Dear MARIA, In today's edition, we highlight: - The IMF at COP29
- How property taxes can help low-income countries develop
- Growth in sub-Saharan Africa is diverging
- 25th Jacques Polak Annual Research Conference
- Branko Milanović on tackling inequality in Africa, and much more
|
|
CLIMATE CHANGE The IMF joined global leaders and innovators in Baku, Azerbaijan this week to kick off COP29. The Fund's Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva participated in a panel on unlocking financing for the green transition alongside World Bank President Ajay Banga. In her remarks, the Managing Director noted the importance of effective policies in moving the needle. “The most important is good policies. If you have good policies, you attract more foreign direct investment,” she said. She also spoke of the “unprecedented cooperation” on a global level taking place on climate change. “There is a dramatic improvement in the way we work together...Why is this happening? Because of the urgency of what needs to be done.” Georgieva also met with leaders including Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, emphasizing collaborative action in climate financing. The Fund's Deputy Managing Director Bo Li contributed to discussions on scaling up climate financing. A number of other events with Fund participation have taken place, on topics including the global climate ambition gap, the potential impact of a carbon tax on aviation and shipping, and the role of the Bretton Woods institutions. |
|
TAX POLICY(Credit: vuk8691/iStock by Getty Images) The world’s governments must raise an additional $3 trillion to achieve sustainable and inclusive economic growth goals this decade. The cost in emerging markets equals 4 percent of gross domestic product—and 16 percent for low-income countries, write the IMF’s Martin Grote, Mario Mansour, and Jean-François Wen in a new blog. How can countries finance such staggering price tags? Large cities such as Delhi and Lagos show a way forward: Taxing property more efficiently can play a meaningful role in raising revenue at the local level, allowing countries to invest more in their people, new IMF analysis shows. Previous IMF research has shown that countries have ample potential to raise more domestic tax revenue if they need it—up to 5 percentage points of GDP over two decades, the authors note. |
|
COUNTRY FOCUS(Credit: IMF Photo/Andrew Caballero-Reynolds) Over the past ten years, growth in sub-Saharan Africa’s resource-intensive countries (RICs)—and especially in fuel exporting economies such as Angola, Chad, and Nigeria—has slowed down sharply, falling far below growth in non-RICs (such as Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Senegal). Indeed, incomes in RICs have essentially stagnated. This marks a sharp contrast with the decade leading up to 2014, when RICs experienced rapid growth, in line with the region’s strong overall performance. In an IMF Country Focus article, the IMF’s Saad Quayyum, Nikola Spatafora, Sanghamitra Mukherjee and Hamza Mighri explain what’s behind this divergence and explore how policymakers can reignite durable growth. |
|
IMF RESEARCH The 25th Jacques Polak Annual Research Conference: Rethinking the Policy Toolkit in a Turbulent Global Economy is currently underway at the IMF. This year’s conference will delve into the nuanced priorities for central banks and fiscal authorities across the world. “The profound shocks of COVID and war have left us with inflation and fragmentation, even as we need economic growth to address challenges from poverty to climate change, said IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva in her opening remarks at the conference. “Yet the growth outlook, while stabilizing, remains much lower than pre-pandemic. Inflation has declined, but not been fully defeated. And elevated debt levels constrain fiscal space, especially in countries that most need to spend to educate their young populations, build infrastructure, and increase their climate resilience. This conference will focus on how to address these and other challenges," she said. |
|
AFRICA PERSPECTIVES In the latest Africa Perspectives episode, Professor Branko Milanović, senior scholar at the Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality of the City University of New York, and Abebe Aemro Selassie, Director of the IMF African Department discuss practical strategies African policymakers can use to tackle inequality and how the IMF can support these efforts.  |
|
With sub-Saharan Africa soon to have one of the largest working-age populations in the world, removing barriers to business growth and encouraging higher productivity industries will help provide the employment opportunities it needs. But reforms don’t come easy. Wenjie Chen and Andrew Tiffin are economists in the IMF’s Africa Department and produce the Regional Economic Outlook for sub-Saharan Africa. In this podcast, they say addressing development needs while realizing reforms that create sufficient jobs will help garner public support and improve regional prospects. |
|
 As the rest of the world grapples with aging populations, Africa’s population is booming. By 2030, half of all new entrants into the global labor force will come from sub-Saharan Africa, requiring the creation of up to 15 million new jobs annually. This challenge is particularly acute in fragile, conflict-affected, and low-income economies. They account for nearly 80 percent of the region’s annual job creation needs, but to date have struggled the most to create jobs. In our chart of the week blog, the IMF’s Athene Laws, Faten Saliba, Can Sever, and Luc Tucker explore the scale of this challenge, and suggest ways that policymakers can respond. |
|
Weekly Roundup
IMF CLIMATE RESARCHIMF Staff Climate Notes provide analysis related to the impact of climate change on macroeconomic and financial stability, including policies related to mitigation, adaptation, and the green transition. Additional IMF research on climate change issues and the environment can be found in our Climate Change Essential Reading Guide on the eLibrary. eLibrary Essential Reading Guides are curated lists of key publications focusing on specific subject areas that help researchers get a quick search on their research in these areas.
REGIONAL ECONOMIC OUTLOOK NOTEEurope’s large per capita income gap with the United States primarily reflects a rising productivity shortfall with deep firm-level roots. Compared to those in the United States, Europe’s large leading firms innovate and grow less, while young high-growth firms have a smaller footprint in the economy. With these productivity growth engines being muted, Europe also suffers from an overabundance of stagnant mature firms. This new Regional Economic Outlook note highlights the roles of smaller markets and limited equity financing as bottlenecks holding back Europe’s large leading firms from scaling up and innovating. |
|
NOVEMBER 18, 2024, 9:30 AM ETTransforming Industries for Growth in a Fragmented WorldThis event will elaborate on policy options to tackle barriers to diversification, including both broad-based and industrial policies. Speakers include Aleksi Aleksishvili, CEO of PMCG; Daouda Sembene, CEO of AfriCatalyst, and the IMF's Chris Papageorgiou. NOVEMBER 20-21, 9:00 AM ET12th IMF Statistical ForumAt the 12th IMF Statistical Forum, Measuring the Implications of AI on the Economy, policymakers, researchers, the private sector, and regulators will come together to discuss cutting-edge issues in macroeconomic and financial statistics and to build support for statistical improvements. The two-day forum will feature speakers including the IMF's Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, First Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath, Deputy Managing Director Bo Li, and Chief Statistician Bert Kroese, as well as Google’s Senior Director David Weller and Stanford University Professor Susan Athey. Find the full agenda and RSVP here. The opening and closing sessions will be live-streamed. |
|
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. |
|
| |
|
