Global Financial Stability: What’s Still To Be Done?

Posted on April 18, 2012 by iMFdirect

The quest for lasting financial stability is still fraught with risks. The latest Global Financial Stability Report has two key messages: policy actions have brought gains to global financial stability since our September report; but current policy efforts are not enough to achieve lasting stability, both in Europe and some other advanced economies, in particular the United States and Japan.

Filed under: Advanced Economies, Economic Crisis, Emerging Markets, Europe, Finance, Financial Crisis, Financial regulation, Financial sector supervision, G-20, IMF, International Monetary Fund | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

It’s the Years, Not The Mileage: IMF Analysis of Pension Reforms in Advanced Economies

Posted on February 1, 2012 by iMFdirect

Indiana Jones, the fictional character of the namesake movies, once said “It’s not the years, it’s the mileage.” The quote comes to mind as many advanced economies wrestle with the best way for pension reform to ensure both retirees and governments don’t go broke.

Our view, explained in a new study, is that in fact the years do matter.

Our analysis shows that gradually raising retirement ages could help countries contain pension spending increases and boost economic growth.

Filed under: Advanced Economies, Economic Crisis, Employment, Fiscal policy, IMF, International Monetary Fund, Public debt | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Latin America: What’s Ahead in 2012?

Posted on January 4, 2012 by iMFdirect

A few days after the first sunrise of 2012 kissed the shores of Latin America, it is natural to ask: What does the New Year hold for the region’s economies, especially with Europe still under stress? For sure, a dimmer economic environment, here and abroad. Growth has softened in the larger countries of the region. Looking North, the United States is growing a bit more, but elsewhere activity is softening, including in China—an increasingly important customer for the region’s commodities. Perhaps more importantly, global financial markets are still strained, because many questions about advanced economies remain unanswered. What should countries do in the face of this risky outlook? A lot depends on their current macroeconomic situation.

Filed under: Economic Crisis, Economic outlook, Emerging Markets, Europe, Finance, Financial Crisis, growth, International Monetary Fund, Latin America | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

The Other Rebalancing: Asia’s Quest for Inclusive Growth

Posted on October 17, 2011 by iMFdirect

For the past two or three decades, rising inequality—inequality of incomes, of economic outcomes and of economic opportunities—has taken a back seat to the goal of boosting overall growth. But growing discontent with the fallout of the global financial crisis has put inequality back on top of the policy agenda. While the symptoms may be different, tackling inequality is no less an issue in Asia. Indeed, research shows that inequality can be counterproductive to sustaining longer-term growth. So, in increasingly turbulent global economic times, this gives added importance to promoting shared—or inclusive—growth in Asia that is more likely to be sustained.

This has been a major focus our latest Regional Economic Outlook, which we presented in Manila today. A great challenge for the government here, and for other countries across the region, is to raise living standards for a wide section of their populations.

Filed under: Asia, Economic outlook, growth, Inequality, International Monetary Fund, 日本語, 中文 | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Resolve and Determination—How We Get Out of This Together

Posted on September 27, 2011 by iMFdirect

Coming in to the 2011 Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank this past weekend, I had warned of the dangerous new phase for the global economy and had called for bold and collective action. Coming out of the Meetings, I feel strongly that the global community is beginning to respond.

Why? Three reasons: a shared sense of urgency, a shared diagnosis of the problems, and a shared sense that the steps needed in the period ahead are now coming into focus.

So, looking ahead, follow through—by all concerned—is now even more important. That means taking action not in the years ahead, but in the weeks ahead. And, in that, we are all in this together and we can only get out of it together.

Filed under: Advanced Economies, Annual Meetings, Economic outlook, Emerging Markets, growth, IMF, International Monetary Fund, Low-income countries, Multilateral Cooperation | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 71 Comments »

Fiscal Glass is Half Full: Some Reasons for Optimism

Posted on September 21, 2011 by iMFdirect

In the midst of jittery financial markets, and global economic doom and gloom, it’s easy to become pessimistic. Public debt and fiscal deficits in many advanced economies remain very high.

Nevertheless, important progress has been made in fiscal adjustment—the fiscal outlook in most countries is stronger than we expected two years ago. So to the pessimists I say, don’t lose sight of what’s been achieved.

But, to the optimists (if there are any) I say, don’t underestimate what still needs to be done. The task that policymakers face is complicated. They need to ensure the public sector is not a source of instability by committing to a plan that will stabilize and then bring down public debt. At the same time, they need to make sure that fiscal tightening itself does not undermine the recovery.

Filed under: Advanced Economies, Economic outlook, Economic research, Fiscal policy, IMF, International Monetary Fund | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

iMFdirect—Our Top 10 Posts

Posted on August 21, 2011 by iMFdirect

As iMFdirect looks back at two years since our blog on global economics was launched in August 2009, we’ve compiled a list of the posts that have drawn the most attention.

Filed under: Advanced Economies, Africa, Asia, Economic Crisis, Economic outlook, Economic research, Europe, Financial Crisis, Financial regulation, Financial sector supervision, Fiscal policy, G-20, Globalization, growth, IMF, Inequality, International Monetary Fund, Latin America, LICs, Middle East, Multilateral Cooperation, Public debt, recession | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: U.S. Fiscal Policy

Posted on July 25, 2011 by iMFdirect

The United States faces two pressing challenges to fiscal policy: raise the debt ceiling, and begin the arduous process of reducing deficits and debt.
And, right now, this leaves U.S. fiscal policy between a rock and a hard place. How much savings should be found and in what form are crucial questions. So is when to put those savings in effect.

Filed under: Advanced Economies, Economic Crisis, Employment, Fiscal policy, growth, IMF, International Monetary Fund, Public debt | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

No Country is an Island: Ireland and the IMF

Posted on July 14, 2011 by iMFdirect

Speaking to the pain and anger of the Irish people at the toll the economic adjustment has taken on their daily lives, the IMF’s mission chief Ajai Chopra was clear during a press conference today in Dublin: the end goals is to protect the poor and most vulnerable people in society while restarting the economy.
The IMF along with the European Central Bank and the European Commission were in the emerald isle for the regular quarterly review of the government’s economic program.

Filed under: Economic Crisis, Europe, Fiscal policy, growth, IMF, International Monetary Fund | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments »

Promises, Promises. Better Measuring the Effect of Pension Reform

Posted on April 26, 2011 by iMFdirect

We all hope to retire one day. Our pensions hold the promise of that. Good fiscal policy means thinking about ho w policy decisions—involving long-term promises, such as pensions—affect government finances both today and in the future.

With pension reform a priority for so many countries, it is a problem that traditional deficit and debt indicators focus on the health of public finances today, but fail to capture the future impact of pension promises.

We propose a new indicator—the “pension-adjusted” budget balance—that can help measure when changes in pension policies are improving or worsening long-term fiscal health. Used as a complement to traditional indicators, this new indicator could help avoid incentives to delay or even reverse pension reforms.

Filed under: Advanced Economies, Emerging Markets, Fiscal policy, International Monetary Fund, Public debt | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments »

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