IMF latest news:Gender Budgeting Is More Widespread But Implementation Remains a Challenge....

 

Structuring spending and taxation in ways that advance equality can help close long-standing gender gaps.

Dear maria, We just published a new blog—please find the full text below. Gender Budgeting Is More Widespread But Implementation Remains a Challenge (PHOTO: OZBALCI/ISTOCK BY GETTY IMAGES) By Teresa Curristine, Nino Tchelishvili and Sureni Weerathunga The pandemic has deepened long-standing gender gaps, with women continuing to bear the burden of unpaid work. By structuring spending and taxation in ways that advance gender equality—a process called gender budgeting—governments can help close the gap. In recognition of International Women’s Day on March 8, the Chart of the Week takes stock of gender budgeting practices in Group of Twenty countries using data from a recent IMF survey. The research shows that while all G20 countries have enacted gender focused fiscal policies, the budgetary tools to operationalize, evaluate, monitor and audit these policies remain more limited. Too few countries assess the upfront impact of policies on gender or evaluate their effectiveness ex-post. IMF staff assessed the relative performance of country practices, using a gender budgeting index (GBI) framed around the four pillars of the IMF’s gender budgeting framework. The index uses data collected from the IMF survey and ranks countries high, medium, or low, depending on how they score. As the Chart of the Week shows, relative to their G20 peers, Canada, Mexico , France, South Korea, and Japan score high on the GBI. More than half of G20 countries have a legal framework in place requiring that gender goals and activities be incorporated in the budget, and almost all collect gender-disaggregated statistics to some degree. Countries also try to bring a gender perspective to the budget preparation process, by linking goals and performance indicators to gender, or by issuing budget circulars with a gender lens. However, just one third carry out up front gender assessments to understand the potential impact of new policies on gender equality. G20 countries score relatively low in integrating a gender perspective into budget execution. Gender information is rarely included in government annual financial reports. Only seven countries do ex-post gender impact assessments and seldom use them to improve policy design. Few countries audit gender activities and programs, though there is some oversight by legislatures in about half of G20 countries. Responses to the IMF survey highlight some of the challenges to effectively implementing gender budgeting, including a lack of guidance, coordination, and expertise in gender analysis and data. But the survey also reveals the keys to success: strong political backing, legislative requirements, and a ministry of finance that is firmly in the driver’s seat. Making the impact of policies on equality more visible through better analysis and reporting can make a real difference in woman’s lives. Jeff Kearns Managing Editor IMF Blog jkearns@IMF.org   Thank you again for your interest in IMF Blog. Read more of our latest content here. Take good care! The latest IMF analysis of global economics, finance, development and policy issues shaping the world. Dear maria, In today's edition we focus on the economic fallout from the war in Ukraine for the region and the world, a round-up of IMF blogs, papers, podcasts on gender to mark International Women's Day, Argentina, Africa's Fiscal Forum, value-added tax, the social state, and much more. Ukraine Ukraine's Economic Impact (PHOTO: IMF PHOTO) Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is taking a horrific human toll, but the war is also fueling inflation and shaking financial confidence with far-reaching consequences for the world economy, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Thursday. The impact of the war, sanctions and spillovers means that the IMF is likely to downgrade its forecasts for global growth when it releases its next outlook in April, Georgieva told a media roundtable. In Ukraine itself, there has been massive damage to infrastructure, supplies of food, medicine and electricity are running short, and millions of refugees are fleeing the country, she said. “Even if hostilities were to end right now, the recovery and reconstruction costs are already massive.” --Emergency Financing: On Wednesday the IMF’s Executive Board approved $1.4 billion in emergency financing for Ukraine to meet urgent balance of payment needs arising from the war and to provide critical support in the short term while playing a catalytic role for financing from other partners. This followed a $2.7 billion allocation in Special Drawing Rights issued to Ukraine as part of last year’s general allocation to all members and an additional $700 million disbursed in December. “Financing needs are large, urgent, and could rise significantly as the war continues,” Georgieva said. --Global Growth: The IMF is likely to cut its global growth forecast to account for the economic consequences of the conflict, Georgieva told CNBC in an interview. "We think that we would be downgrading our growth projections as a result of the crisis, but we still expect the world to be in positive growth territory." In earlier comments, Georgieva said that higher prices for commodities, especially energy and food, are fanning existing inflation pressures. This will reduce purchasing power, shake consumer and financial confidence, and increase pressures on the real economy. The crisis comes at a delicate time for Africa, just as the continent is beginning to recover from the ravages of the pandemic, Georgieva has said. --Policy Tradeoffs: Monetary authorities will need to carefully monitor the pass-through of rising international prices to domestic inflation to calibrate appropriate responses, according to IMF staff. Fiscal policy will also need to support the most vulnerable households to help offset rising living costs. “This crisis will create complex policy tradeoffs further complicating the policy landscape as the world economy recovers from the pandemic crisis.”  Watch Georgieva talk to CNBC about how money sent to Ukraine is being spent, Russian debt, global downgrades, and more.   Find all the IMF's statements, remarks and social media posts about the Ukraine conflict here.   International Women's Day Strength of Women (IMAGE: CANVA / ANADABGD GETTY IMAGES SIGNATURE / WORDFOTO) International Women’s Day, first recognized by the United Nations in 1977, grew from early 1900s labor movements for better working conditions and women’s right to work. Now, as the continuing pandemic puts female roles in the labor market again in flux, attention to gender has never been more urgent. “My heart goes to all the women bracing the horror of war, protecting their children, caring for the wounded, sacrificing for their countries, their communities, their families,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in remarks to a special session of the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday. “Today this is the fate of our sisters in Ukraine. We admire your courage, we share your pain, we stand with you.” --Gender Round-Up: IMF research has consistently underscored the benefits of equality, including greater productivity and financial stability. To mark this International Women’s Day, we presented a round-up of our most recent blogs, podcasts, and research on gender, including how tax policy affects gender equality, the legal impediments to women’s economic empowerment, and unleashing the potential of women and girls’ human capital in Africa. ️ Listen to a podcast of Georgieva's remarks to the United Nations Security Council in which she stresses women's economic inclusion as a key to building peace.   F&D Understanding the Social State (PHOTO: ISTOCK / FRANCESCOCH) The growth of the social state is a puzzle for modern economics but has deep evolutionary roots, University of California, Berkeley, professor Emmanuel Saez writes in the March issue of Finance & Development Magazine. According to standard economic models, rational individuals in a market economy with functioning credit markets should be able to manage largely on their own, but this has never been a reality for anyone except the wealthy elite. “Standard economics gets its logic backward: it worries about the growth effects of large social states, whereas their rise in the middle of the 20th century came with extraordinary and equitable growth in Western countries.” “It worries about the social state reducing individual incentives to work, whereas societies voluntarily decided to reduce work for the young and the old through mass education and retirement benefits and for the overworked through labor regulations.” Read the entire article.   Check out our newly published March Issue of Finance & Development, which focuses on "Rethinking Fiscal: Public Finance and Fairness in a Changed World".   Want to get a print copy delivered to your home or office? Click here to subscribe. (PHOTO: IMF PHOTOS)   Argentina The IMF has reached a staff-level agreement with Argentina covering the policies to be supported by a 30-month Extended Fund Facility. The $45-billion facility, which still needs to be approved by the Executive Board, aims to provide Argentina with balance of payments and budget support. (PHOTO: ROCK STAR/UNSPLASH)   Women in Economics In a new podcast, Brazilian economist Laura Carvalho speaks with journalist Rhoda Metcalfe about how growing up in Brazil in the 90s during its currency swings and hyperinflation drove her to become one of the country's most influential economists. Read the transcript. (PHOTO: IMF)   Value-Added Tax Value-added tax is imposed by more than 160 countries and it accounts for about one-third of global tax revenues. But it is also difficult to understand. Watch the IMF's Alex Muller explain how VAT works and why it continues to expand in a new Back to Basics video.  (PHOTO: IMF)   Essential Reading: Rapid Financing Check out our Factsheets library to learn more about the IMF and its work, including the Rapid Financing Instrument, which is available to all member countries facing an urgent balance of payments need.    To mark International Women’s Day, this Chart of the Week by the IMF's Teresa Curristine, Nino Tchelishvili and Sureni Weerathunga takes stock of gender budgeting across the G20. It shows that all countries have enacted gender-focused fiscal policies, but too few countries assess the impact of these policies on gender or evaluate their effectiveness. WEEKLY ROUND-UP 01. Gopinath on Ukraine In a Twitter thread, Gita Gopinath, the IMF’s First Deputy Managing Director, has drawn attention to the impact of the Ukraine conflict on the cost of living. Surging energy and food prices will be felt most acutely in Africa, she tweeted, adding that consumers in low-income countries are much more exposed to swings in global commodity prices than those in advanced economies. 02. Africa Fiscal Forum The IMF’s Bo Li, Deputy Managing Director, Vitor Gaspar, Director of the Fiscal Affairs Department, and Abebe Aemro Selassie, Director of the African Department, were among the participants at the Tenth African Fiscal Forum on Mar. 10-12. The virtual forum discussed wide-ranging fiscal reforms needed to preserve the sustainability of public finances and enhance the resilience of African economies and also featured finance ministers from the region. Watch the discussion. 03. Pandemic Preparedness Had the world been better prepared for the pandemic, it might have avoided much of the economic damage, estimated at a cumulative $13.8 trillion through 2024, IMF Deputy Managing Director Bo Li told a summit organized by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations on Mar. 8. “With global innovation and better preparation, we can further shorten the response time before the next pandemic—saving lives and livelihoods.” 04. Economic Models Forecasting and policy analysis tools became even more important during COVID-19 and will be key as countries emerge from the pandemic and confront heightened global uncertainty. The evolving nature of shocks calls for a coherent assessment of alternative economic policy scenarios. More central banks and finance ministries intend to upgrade their analytical tools with Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) models. MARK YOUR CALENDAR Fragile and conflict-affected states are home to nearly 1 billion people facing a variety of challenges from patchy provision of public goods and extreme poverty to war and forced displacement. On Mar. 18 the IMF will launch a new strategy for fragile and conflict-affected states at an event featuring Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and other high-level speakers. Read more here. SHARE YOUR VIEWS Many gender disparities are macro-critical and economic and financial policies can widen or narrow them. The IMF is preparing its first strategy to mainstream gender and invites you to share your views here. Nick Owen Editor IMF Weekend Read nowen@imf.org   Thank you again very much for your interest in the Weekend Read! Be sure to let us know what issues and trends we should have on our radar.