Myanmar | IMF Blog

Transparency Pays: Emerging Markets Share More Data

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.

Continue reading “Transparency Pays: Emerging Markets Share More Data” »

By IMFBlog| July 7th, 2017|Africa, Asia, Debt Relief, Economic research, Emerging Markets, Government, International Monetary Fund, Investment, U.S.|

The IMF’s Work on Inequality: Bridging Research and Reality

By Prakash Loungani and Jonathan D. Ostry

Versions in عربي (Arabic), 中文 (Chinese), Français (French), and Español (Spanish)

Over the past three decades, income inequality has gone up in most advanced economies and in many developing ones as well. Why? Much of the research on inequality has focused on advances in technology and liberalization of trade as the main drivers. While technology and trade are global trends that are difficult to resist, IMF studies have shown that the design of government policies matters and can help limit increases in inequality. Continue reading “The IMF’s Work on Inequality: Bridging Research and Reality” »

By IMFBlog| February 22nd, 2017|developing countries, Economic research, growth, IMF, inclusive growth, income, Inequality|

The Fruits of Growth: Economic Reforms and Lower Inequality

Lagarde.2015MDPORTRAIT4_114x128 By Christine Lagarde

Versions in: عربي (Arabic), 中文 (Chinese), Français (French), 日本語 (Japanese), Português (Portuguese), Русский (Russian), and Español (Spanish)

Growth is essential for improving the lives of people in low-income countries, and it should benefit all parts of society.

Traveling through Africa in the last few days, I have been amazed by the vitality I have witnessed: business startups investing in the future, new infrastructure under construction, and a growing middle class. Many Africans are now making a better living and fewer are suffering from poverty. My current host, Uganda, for example, has more than halved its absolute poverty rate to about 35 percent from close to 90 percent in 1990.

But we have also seen a flip side. Poverty, of course, but inequality as well remain stubbornly high in most developing countries, including in Africa, and too often success is not shared by all. Continue reading “The Fruits of Growth: Economic Reforms and Lower Inequality” »

By IMFBlog| January 26th, 2017|Economic research, growth, IMF, Inequality, International Monetary Fund, Reform|

Myanmar: Awakening to Countless Possibilities

By Christine Lagarde

Having visited Cambodia and Korea on this whirlwind tour of the region, I touched down in my third and last country—Myanmar.

What a place! It is rare to find such a combination of enchanting beauty, warm hospitality, and an unstoppable drive to succeed. Myanmar is undergoing a great awakening to the world and all that it has to offer. And it is engaging on multiple fronts. For example, it has recently taken over the chairmanship of ASEAN, and when I arrived I found the country in the midst of hosting the South East Asian games.

Continue reading “Myanmar: Awakening to Countless Possibilities” »

By IMFBlog| December 9th, 2013|Asia, Emerging Markets, growth, IMF, International Monetary Fund, Investment, Low-income countries, Uncategorized|

Back to Asia

By Christine Lagarde

In a couple of days, I will embark upon a trip to Asia. Every time I visit Asia, I can feel that dynamism and intensity are in the air. It feels like moving forward in time. Hardly surprising as under current trends, developing Asia alone will account for half of global GDP by 2050. Back to Asia really means back to the future.

This time, I will visit three countries—Cambodia, Korea, and Myanmar. These countries represent three different chapters of the great Asian story, each in their own unique way.

Korea is a country that has propelled itself from very low income levels to one of the world’s richest economies in an astoundingly short period of time. It has a well-deserved reputation for innovation, technological brilliance and hard work. I am convinced it can stay at the leading edge, especially by making labor markets more inclusive—including for women—and making the services sector more dynamic and productive.

Continue reading “Back to Asia” »

By IMFBlog| November 29th, 2013|Asia, Emerging Markets, growth, IMF, International Monetary Fund, Low-income countries, Uncategorized|

Promoting Multilateral Solutions for a Globalized World

The new issue of Finance & Development magazine looks at different aspects of interconnectedness. Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, argues that what he terms the global village increasingly requires global solutions to big emerging problems such as climate change. Kemal Derviş, former head of the United Nations Development Programme who is now a vice president at the Brookings Institution, looks at three fundamental shifts in the global economy that are leading to major adjustments in the balance between east and west.

By IMFBlog| August 30th, 2012|Advanced Economies, Africa, Asia, Civil Society, Debt Relief, Economic Crisis, Economic outlook, Economic research, Emerging Markets, Employment, Europe, Finance, Financial Crisis, Fiscal policy, Global Governance, Globalization, growth, Inequality, International Monetary Fund, Investment, Latin America, Low-income countries, Middle East, Multilateral Cooperation, Politics, Public debt|