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We Need Forceful Policies to Avoid the Low-Growth Trap

Lagarde.2015MDPORTRAIT4_114x128By Christine Lagarde

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

Low growth, high inequality, and slow progress on structural reforms are among the key issues that G20 leaders will discuss at their meeting in Hangzhou, China, this weekend. This meeting comes at an important moment for the global economy. The political pendulum threatens to swing against economic openness, and without forceful policy actions, the world could suffer from disappointing growth for a long time. Continue reading “We Need Forceful Policies to Avoid the Low-Growth Trap” »

By | September 1st, 2016|Advanced Economies, Emerging Markets, G-20, International Monetary Fund, Uncategorized|0 Comments
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Doing It All—Women Boost the Bottom Line for Home, Firm, and Country

Christine LagardeBy Christine Lagarde

(Versions in عربي, 中文, Español, Français, 日本語, Русский, Deutsch, and Italiano)

International Women’s Day—March 8—is one of my favorite days. It is a time to celebrate the impressive progress women at all levels of the career ladder have made in recent decades. More women in the labor force, and in more senior positions is good news for women, for their companies, and for their countries’ economies.

A new IMF staff study finds that in Europe, national policies, even taking account of personal preferences, can boost women’s participation in the workforce and enhance their chances for advancement.

Continue reading “Doing It All—Women Boost the Bottom Line for Home, Firm, and Country” »

By | March 7th, 2016|Employment, Gender issues, growth, IMF, Inequality, International Monetary Fund, technology|0 Comments
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How Emerging Markets Can Get Their Groove Back

By Kalpana Kochhar and Roberto Perrelli

(Version in Español  and عربي)

After a decade of high growth and a swift rebound after the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers, emerging markets are seeing slowing growth. Their average growth is now 1½ percentage points lower than in 2010 and 2011. This is a widespread phenomenon: growth has been slowing in roughly three out of four emerging markets. This share is remarkably high; in the past, such synchronized and persistent slowdowns typically have only occurred during acute crises.

Chart Growth Revisions.finalOur analysis attributes the slowdown in part to cyclical forces, including softer external demand and in part to structural bottlenecks, for example in infrastructure, labor markets, power sector. And this has happened in spite of supportive domestic macroeconomic policies, (still) favorable terms of trade, and easy financing conditions, which only began to tighten recently. However, a non-trivial portion of the slowdown remains unexplained, suggesting that other factors common to emerging markets are at play.

Continue reading “How Emerging Markets Can Get Their Groove Back” »

By | October 7th, 2013|Economic Crisis, Economic outlook, Economic research, Emerging Markets, Employment, Financial Crisis, growth, International Monetary Fund, Public debt, Uncategorized|5 Comments
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How To Make A Graceful Exit: The Potential Perils of Ending Extraordinary Central Bank Policies

Erik Oppers MCMBy Erik Oppers

This spring monetary policy is the talk of the town.  It is everywhere you look, it’s unique, and you’ve never seen anything quite like it before: short-term interest rates at zero for several years running, and central bank balance sheets swelling with government bonds and other assets in the euro area Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

But the meteoric rise of this once dusty topic can’t last.  The end of these unconventional monetary policies will come and may pose threats to financial stability because of the length and breadth of their unprecedented reign.  Policymakers should be alert to the risks and take gradual and predictable measures to address them.

Continue reading “How To Make A Graceful Exit: The Potential Perils of Ending Extraordinary Central Bank Policies” »

By | April 11th, 2013|Advanced Economies, Economic outlook, Economic research, Fiscal policy, International Monetary Fund, Investment|1 Comment
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Tharman Sees “Greater Global Policy Resolve”

The world is now in a much better situation than six months ago when it comes to policy solutions, according to Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance , who is Chair of the IMF's policy-setting committee, the IMFC, speaking about the outcome of the IMF-World Bank annual meetings in Tokyo.

By | October 14th, 2012|Advanced Economies, Africa, Annual Meetings, Asia, Civil Society, concessional lending, Debt Relief, Economic Crisis, Economic outlook, Economic research, Emerging Markets, Employment, Europe, Finance, Financial Crisis, Fiscal policy, Global Governance, Globalization, growth, IMF, Inequality, International Monetary Fund, Investment, Latin America, LICs, Low-income countries, Middle East, Multilateral Cooperation, Politics, Public debt|9 Comments
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Making Sure Middle East Growth Is Inclusive

We know that social exclusion and unemployment, especially among young people, are very painful and that the challenges ahead are formidable. We should not let the hopes and aspirations of the people who took to the street go unfulfilled. We must strive to ensure that the people of the Arab countries in transition have the opportunity for a fairer and more prosperous future.

By | May 10th, 2012|Economic Crisis, Economic outlook, Emerging Markets, Employment, Finance, growth, IMF, Inequality, International Monetary Fund, Middle East, Public debt|2 Comments
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More Diversity will Help the IMF at Work

Nemat Shafik, who took over as IMF Deputy Managing Director in April, says she has been surprised by the vigor of internal policy debate at the IMF. “From the outside looking in, you have the impression that the IMF is a monolith with a very single-minded view of the world. When you are inside the Fund, what is really striking is how active the internal debate is,” she says. At a time when the global economy is being buffeted by continued uncertainty in Europe, uprisings in the Middle East, and signs of overheating in some emerging market economies, there’s a lot to discuss. And, it addition to global economic problems, the IMF’s work environment has come under increased scrutiny, in particular how women are treated and its professional code of conduct. In an interview, Ms. Shafik discusses some of these issues.

By | June 1st, 2011|Africa, Europe, G-20, IMF, International Monetary Fund, LICs, Low-income countries|1 Comment
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