IMFBlog2021-07-01T15:30:22-04:00April 15, 2020|
By Vitor Gaspar, W. Raphael Lam, and Mehdi Raissi
عربي, 中文, Español, Français, 日本語, Português, Русский
In times of pandemic, fiscal policy is key to save lives and protect people. Governments have to do whatever it takes. But they must make sure to keep the receipts. […]
IMFBlog2020-02-06T08:30:13-05:00February 6, 2020|
By Etibar Jafarov, Rodolfo Maino, and Marco Pani
With the surge in public debt in the wake of the global financial crisis, financial repression—administrative restrictions on interest rates, credit allocation, capital movements, and other financial operations—has come back on the agenda. […]
IMFBlog2019-09-30T08:36:17-04:00September 30, 2019|
By Esha Chhabra and Bidisha Das
Thanks to mobile money, any person with a basic phone can now make cash transfers, pay bills, and send money to family members abroad without having a bank account. […]
IMFBlog2019-02-14T11:59:32-05:00February 14, 2019|
If you are reading this blog—drawn by current buzz around financial technology and the “fintech” reference in the title, and its promise to democratize financial services—then it is probably a safe bet to assume that you have heard of M-Pesa. […]
IMFBlog2019-03-13T14:25:03-04:00September 19, 2018|
By Martin Čihák and Ratna Sahay
September 19, 2018
عربي, 中文, Español, Français, 日本語, Português, Русский
A group of women attend an event in Sao Paolo to promote women’s participation in the financial sector: women account for 51% of borrowers in Brazil (Sebastio Mareira/Newscom)
Women are underrepresented at all levels of the global financial system, from depositors and borrowers to bank board members and regulators. […]
IMFBlog2019-03-13T15:29:35-04:00August 1, 2018|
By Francisco Arizala, Matthieu Bellon, Margaux MacDonald, Montfort Mlachila, and Mustafa Y. Yenice
August 1, 2018
Versions in Français, Português
Countries in sub-Saharan Africa are more closely tied than ever, thanks to rising trade with one another and remittances (photo: AfricaImages/Getty Images by iStock)
Contrary to popular belief, countries in sub-Saharan Africa are more closely tied than ever, thanks to rising trade with one another and remittances—the money people send home when working in another country. […]
IMFBlog2019-03-14T13:28:16-04:00March 22, 2018|
By Tao Zhang
March 22, 2018
Versions in Português (Portuguese)
Congested streets in Dhaka, Bangladesh. In a third of low-income countries, including Bangladesh, government deficits finance investment in much needed infrastructure (photo: Motoya Taguchi/Jiji Press/Newscom).
Government debt in some of the world’s poorest countries is rising to risky levels, a new IMF report shows. The report looks at economic developments and prospects among the world’s low-income countries, which account for a fifth of the world’s population but only four percent of global output. […]
IMFBlog2019-03-14T16:33:34-04:00December 4, 2017|
By Stefania Fabrizio and Andrea F. Presbitero
December 4, 2017
Versions in عربي (Arabic), 中文(Chinese), Français (French), 日本語 (Japanese), Русский (Russian)
Pretoria, South Africa: technicians work inside a new locomotive (photo: Zhai Jianlan Xinhua News Agency/Newscom).
Population growth and technological innovation don’t necessarily have to widen inequality in developing countries. They can also offer new opportunities to increase growth and create jobs: the long-term outcomes depend on today’s policy choices. But those choices are not easy because policies for sustained and inclusive growth may conflict with short-term needs. We look at the trade-offs and how to balance short- and long-term goals for sustainable and inclusive growth. […]
IMFBlog2019-03-25T13:55:00-04:00July 7, 2017|
By Sangyup Choi and Stephanie Medina Cas
July 7, 2017
Versions in عربي (Arabic), 中文 (Chinese), 日本語, Français (French), (Japanese), Português (Portuguese), and Русский (Russian)
On the move in Mexico City, Mexico: emerging market economies that are transparent with their data can lower their borrowing costs (photo: Edgard Garrido/Reuters/Newscom)
If sunlight is the best disinfectant, as US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once famously said, can it also be a money maker? We have tried to quantify the financial gains from greater transparency that emerging market countries can achieve.
IMFBlog2019-03-25T14:56:33-04:00June 6, 2017|
June 6, 2017
Versions in عربي (Arabic), 中文 (Chinese), Français (French) 日本語 (Japanese), Русский (Russian), and Español (Spanish)
Senior class in Nairobi, Kenya. In many countries with IMF-supported programs public spending on education grew significantly faster than the economy of the country (photo: Xinhua/Sipa USA/Newscom)
IMF-supported programs are designed to help economies get back on their feet, but what about their impact on social spending?
Our latest research shows that health and education spending have typically been protected in low-income country programs. In fact, an analysis of more than 25 years of data (1988–2014) suggests that public health spending, as a share of GDP, has on average remained unchanged, while public education spending has increased by 0.32 percentage points.
