By Robert Gregory, Huidan Lin, and Martin Mühleisen In the face of unprecedented uncertainty and the severe economic impact triggered by COVID-19, the Fund continues to adapt its lending. At the same time, it aims to ensure realistic targets, uphold the credibility of programs, and foster national ownership. To date, the Fund has provided financial […]
Tag: IMF
Charting a Path for a Resilient Recovery in Sub Saharan Africa
By Kristalina Georgieva and Abebe Aemro Selassie Perhaps first among the many lessons of 2020 is that the notion of so‑called black swan events is not some remote worry. These purportedly once‑in‑a‑generation events are occurring with increasing frequency. Take climate‑related shocks, especially in sub‑Saharan Africa. More than any other region, it is vulnerable to these […]
Guilt, Gender, and an Inclusive Recovery: A Lesson from Japan
By Chie Aoyagi Japan’s voluntary month-and-a-half shutdown of the economy in April due to COVID-19 has had a higher cost for women than men. A key reason: a “guilt gap” between women and men, where women often feel compelled to take on more professional sacrifices. Close to one million women—the majority of whom worked in […]
How Strong Infrastructure Governance Can End Waste in Public Investment
By Gerd Schwartz, Manal Fouad, Torben Hansen, and Geneviève Verdier COVID-19 has had a profound impact on people, firms, and economies all over the world. While countries have ramped up public lifelines to individuals and firms they will face enormous challenges to recover from the pandemic, amidst low economic activity and unprecedented levels of debt. […]
Healing the Fractures of the Global Economy
Gita Bhatt As the world seeks to comprehend the new normal, we face many unknowns. Will jobs come back? How will we travel again? What will recovery look like? Much is still a question mark. In fact, we are living in the most “unmeasurable of times,” writes the IMF’s Geoffrey Okamoto, making it hard to […]
COVID-19 Response in Emerging Market Economies: Conventional Policies and Beyond
By Martin Mühleisen, Tryggvi Gudmundsson, and Hélène Poirson Ward The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on emerging market economies far exceeded that of the global financial crisis. Unlike previous crises, the response has been decisive just like in advanced economies. Yet, conventional policies are reaching their limit and unorthodox policies are not without risks. […]
Transparency Makes Central Banks More Effective and Trusted
By Tobias Adrian, Ghiath Shabsigh, and Ashraf Khan The role and mandates of central banks have become broader and more complex since the 2008 global financial crisis. The unconventional nature and growing scale of interventions (as seen again during the COVID-19 pandemic) have brought on much higher scrutiny. More transparency and accountability are required to […]
Toward an Integrated Policy Framework for Open Economies
By Tobias Adrian and Gita Gopinath While capital mobility provides many benefits, capital flows to emerging market and developing economies are often volatile and depend critically on global financial conditions. The risks posed by volatile capital flows to macroeconomic and financial stability are often difficult to address with conventional monetary policy tools. Hence, policymakers have […]
Outlook for Latin America and the Caribbean: An Intensifying Pandemic
By Alejandro Werner Latin America and the Caribbean have become the new COVID-19 global epicenter. The human cost has been tragic, with over 100,000 lives lost. The economic toll has also been steep. The World Economic Outlook Update now estimates the region to shrink by 9.4 percent in 2020, four percentage points worse than the […]
The Great Lockdown through a Global Lens
By Gita Gopinath The Great Lockdown is expected to play out in three phases, first as countries enter the lockdown, then as they exit, and finally as they escape the lockdown when there is a medical solution to the pandemic. Many countries are now in the second phase, as they reopen, with early signs of […]
