Moving Beyond Crisis Management in the West Bank and Gaza

Posted on February 28, 2013 by iMFdirect

By Oussama Kanaan, Udo Kock, and Mariusz Sumlinski

(Versions in  عربي)

It was an early spring morning in East Jerusalem in 2011, and we were wrapping up our two-week mission with a presentation to donor representatives on the Palestinian economy’s health. Our audience appeared encouraged by our assessment of performance over the previous three years (2008–10): the economy had been recovering strongly, supported by generous aid and an easing of Israeli restrictions on movement and trade.

And the Palestinian Authority had made impressive progress in institution-building, which alongside prudent fiscal management, had enhanced public-sector efficiency, reduced wasteful expenditure, and enabled a reduction in its recurrent budget deficit from US$1.7 billion in 2008 to US$1.1 billion in 2010.

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Filed under: Debt Relief, Economic Crisis, Employment, Financial Crisis, Fiscal policy, growth, International Monetary Fund, Middle East, Politics, Public debt, عربي | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Time For A Spring Cleaning: The Global Economy Will Thank You

Posted on February 25, 2013 by iMFdirect

Jose Vinals

by José Viñals

Version in Español

It is still winter in the northern hemisphere, but there is never a bad time for spring cleaning. I suggest that policymakers de-clutter their to-do lists by focusing on three priorities.

These policies will help economies grow and will significantly improve financial and monetary stability in 2013 and beyond.

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Filed under: Advanced Economies, Europe, Finance, Financial Crisis, Financial regulation, Financial sector supervision, growth, IMF, International Monetary Fund, Politics | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

India’s Economy: Stamina Is The Name Of The Game

Posted on February 21, 2013 by iMFdirect

by Laura Papi and Rahul Anand*

So far 2013 has been a breath of fresh air in terms of economic news: financial markets have rallied and economic indicators have started to surprise on the upside. In India, the rupee has strengthened and the Bombay Stock Exchange index (Sensex) crossed the 20,000 mark for the first time in two years.  Industrial production has started picking up.

So is India’s growth about to go back to 8-9 percent? The short answer is no. But we need to look back to understand why India’s growth has decelerated to a decade low and why the slump, which has hit investment particularly hard, has persisted for over a year. As structural problems are at the root of the slowdown, so structural reforms must be at the core of the solution.

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Filed under: Economic Crisis, Emerging Markets, growth, IMF, International Monetary Fund | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Europe: Toward A More Perfect Union

Posted on February 15, 2013 by iMFdirect

Nemat Shafik 4

By Nemat Shafik

During the years that followed the euro’s introduction, financial integration proceeded rapidly and markets and governments hailed it as a sign of success. The widespread belief was that it would benefit both south and north—capital was finally able to flow to where it would best be used and foster real convergence.

But in fact, a lasting convergence in productivity did not materialize across the European Union. Instead, a competitiveness divide emerged. As the financial crisis gripped the euro area in 2010, these and other problems came to the fore.

Three years later, the financial symptoms of the crisis are thankfully receding with a new sense of optimism in markets. But the underlying problems—lack of convergence of productivity and the structural flaws in the architecture of the monetary union—have only been partially addressed.

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Filed under: Advanced Economies, Economic Crisis, Employment, Europe, Finance, Financial Crisis, Financial regulation, Financial sector supervision, Fiscal policy, growth, IMF, International Monetary Fund | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Resolutions for the Fiscal New Year—Staying on Track Is No Easy Task

Posted on February 4, 2013 by iMFdirect

by Carlo Cottarelli and Philip Gerson

Version in Español and عربي

We’re one month into 2013, and if past experience is any guide, by now many people will have all but forgotten the promises they made about the things they planned to do over the coming year.

It’s a time-honored tradition in many countries for people to make resolutions at the New Year, usually involving things that are good for them, like achieving a healthier weight. Unfortunately, it’s also traditional that these commitments quickly fall by the wayside, only to be taken up again next year, usually with the same results.

But unlike many of these resolutions, the ones made by most advanced economies to reduce their 2012 fiscal deficits were by and large kept. The average headline deficit in these countries fell by about ¾ percent of GDP last year, bringing the cumulative deficit decline to 3 percent of GDP since budget shortfalls peaked in 2009. This is good news.

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Filed under: Advanced Economies, Economic Crisis, Emerging Markets, Europe, Fiscal policy, growth, IMF, International Monetary Fund, Public debt | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

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