IMF weekend read

 

Dear maria, In today's edition, we highlight: The best response to major economic shocks Mounting cyber security threats Globalization India's greenhouse gases Jamaica's climate reforms

ECONOMIC GROWTH In Major Economic Shocks, All-Out Response Is Best (Credit: fotoVoyager/iStock by Getty Images) Economists will be studying the pandemic for generations to learn from the dramatic global downturn and the ensuing credit crunch, but one important lesson about the scope of action needed to contain the next global crisis is already coming into focus. In a blog, IMF economists say that all-out responses that combine large fiscal, monetary and prudential measures may be needed to support corporate borrowing and credit growth in major future crises. The authors analyzed a dataset made available last year tracking national announcements of economic and financial policy responses to the pandemic and set out their findings in a new working paper. “Our results underscore the importance of decisive action in terms of breadth and intensity of pandemic policy responses,” they say. An all-out approach can have unintended consequences, however. “Large fiscal and monetary packages could support credit and the economy but also fuel sharp inflationary pressures. In countries with high debt, an increase in discretionary spending could strain debt sustainability.” Read the Paper

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY Message from the Managing Director

Well-designed economic and financial policies can benefit women, girls, and society in general, Kristalina Georgieva said in a video message. The managing director also spoke to CNN and CNBC on International Women's Day.

CYBER SECURITY Mounting Threats Mean Financial Firms Need Better Safeguards (Credit: Peter Nguyen/Unsplash) Cyber attackers continue to target the financial sector. What will happen when an attack takes down a bank or other critical platform, locking users out of their accounts?

Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau

 President of the United States Joe Biden to visit Canada

March 9, 2023
Ottawa, Ontario

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced that the President of the United States, Joe Biden, will visit Canada on March 23 to 24, 2023 to continue working closely together to strengthen trade ties, create good jobs, grow the middle class, and drive economic growth that benefits everyone on both sides of the border. They will also continue to increase collaboration on defence and security, climate action, and immigration.

With the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement as the foundation, Prime Minister Trudeau and President Biden will underscore the importance of our mutually beneficial economic relationship to bolster competitiveness and build resilient supply chains, including on critical minerals – the building blocks for the clean economy. They will also discuss the progress made under the February 2021 Roadmap for a Renewed U.S.-Canada Partnership to advance bilateral cooperation on shared priorities including taking ambitious climate action and advancing countries where no one is left behind.

Keeping North Americans safe from new and emerging threats requires a coordinated response. During the visit, the Prime Minister and the President will highlight ongoing cooperation on continental defence, including NORAD’s key role in defending North America. They will also advance cooperation in the Arctic.

Prime Minister Trudeau and President Biden will also continue to cooperate on global issues of mutual interest including continuing their unwavering support for Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia’s war of aggression and advancing solutions to the broader global impacts of the war like food and energy security. They will also continue to support the people of Haiti and Haitian-led efforts to address the ongoing crisis. The leaders will further commit to advancing our countries’ shared priorities in the Indo-Pacific region, including national security, economic prosperity, respect for international law and human rights, democratic values, public health, and protecting our environment.

Canada and the United States are steadfast partners in upholding democracy, human rights, and respect for the rule of law, and we will always work together to defend these shared values in our countries and beyond.

Council and Parliament strike deal on energy efficiency directive

 

Press material Friday 10 March 2023

● Council of the EU   10/03/2023 06:42 | Press release | Council and Parliament strike deal on energy efficiency directive   The Council presidency and the European Parliament negotiators today reached a provisional political agreement to reduce final energy consumption at EU level by 11.7% in 2030. Member states will benefit from flexibilities in reaching the target. Headline target Member states must collectively ensure a reduction of final energy consumption of at least 11.7% in 2030, compared with the energy consumption forecasts for 2030 made in 2020. This translates into an upper limit to the EU’s final energy consumption of 763 million tonnes of oil equivalent and of 993 million tonnes of oil equivalent for primary consumption. The consumption limit for final consumption will be binding for member states collectively, whereas the primary energy consumption target will be indicative. Final energy consumption represents energy consumed by end-users, while primary energy consumption also includes what is used for the production and supply of energy. National contributions and gap-filling The Council and Parliament agreed that all member states will contribute to achieving the overall EU target through indicative national contributions and trajectories, set by the member states in their integrated national energy and climate plans (NECPs). Updated NECPs are due in 2023 and 2024. The formula for calculating national contributions towards the target (defined in Annex I to the proposal) will be indicative, with the possibility of deviating from it by 2.5%. The Commission will calculate whether all the contributions add up to the 11.7% target and, if not, issue corrections to the national contributions that are lower than what they would have been if using the formula (the so-called gap-filling mechanism). The formula is based on, among other things, energy intensity, GDP per capita, development of renewables and energy savings potential. Energy savings The Council and Parliament agreed to a gradual increase of the annual energy savings target for final energy consumption from 2024 to 2030. Member states will ensure new annual savings of 1.49% of final energy consumption on average during this period, gradually reaching 1.9% on 31 December 2030. The co-legislators agreed that member states could count in the calculation towards the target, energy savings realised through policy measures under the current and the revised Energy performance of buildings directive; measures stemming from the EU ETS (for installations and for buildings and transport); emergency energy measures. Public sector leading by example The Council and the Parliament agreed to a specific obligation for the public sector to achieve an annual energy consumption reduction of 1.9% that can exclude public transport and armed forces. In addition to this, member states would be required to renovate each year at least 3% of the total floor area of buildings owned by public bodies. Next steps The provisional political agreement reached today will first be submitted to the Committee of Permanent Representatives in the Council and the Parliament’s ITRE committee for approval. The directive will then need to be formally adopted by the Parliament and then the Council, before it can be published in the EU’s Official Journal and enter into force. Background The proposal to revise the Energy Efficiency Directive, along with other proposals, tackles the energy aspects of the EU’s climate transition under the ‘Fit for 55’ package. The Commission presented the ‘Fit for 55’ package on 14 July 2021. This package aims to align the EU’s climate and energy legislative framework with its 2050 climate neutrality objective and with its objective of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. The package consists of a series of interrelated proposals, which either modify existing pieces of legislation or introduce new initiatives in a range of policy areas and economic sectors. In addition, as part of the REPowerEU plan, the Commission proposed on 18 May 2022 a series of additional targeted amendments to the Energy Efficiency Directive to reflect the recent changes in the energy landscape. The elements of the proposal were integrated into the interinstitutional negotiation process between the Council and the Parliament. The current Energy Efficiency Directive in force since December 2018 sets a target of reducing both primary and final energy consumption by 32.5% by 2030 at EU level, compared with the energy consumption forecasts for 2030 made in 2007. General approach on energy efficiency directive Proposal for a recast of the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) ‘Fit for 55’ package (background information)

APEC News newsalert

APEC Bulletin 10 March 2023


How Digital Innovation is Helping Business Mobility


Mobility and digitalization are key priorities for the BMG along with expanding ABTC's value for the region’s businesses.

Travel requires a lot of planning, especially when it comes to frequent international travel. Not all destinations have the same entry and visa requirements and it is not unusual for travelers to find themselves stuck in long immigration lines on arrival and departure.

For frequent business travelers, the APEC Business Travel Card (ABTC) is worth considering. Its main purpose is to streamline the entry process into APEC member economies, making travel for business easier and immigration processing faster.

The ABTC scheme saves costs for businesses and governments—increasing efficiency by reducing cost and time spent applying for visas and through fast-track immigration processing at airports—fueling its growing popularity. As the ABTC allows for multiple entries to multiple APEC member economies, users’ travel costs within the APEC region have fallen by 38 percent. Businesses pay 27 percent less in application fees and 52 percent less in immigration processing. For many small businesses, these costs cannot be ignored. Today, there are more than 340,000 active ABTCs across the APEC region.

Also watch: The Future of Business Mobility is Digital: Sally McLean, Convenor of the APEC Business Mobility Group

The Business Mobility Group (BMG), the group responsible for the ABTC, was formed in 1997 when the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) made the facilitation of business travel a priority. Since the BMG’s establishment, the group has regularly consulted with the business community.

The development of the ABTC stands as one of the BMG’s biggest achievements in its collaboration with ABAC and provides business people faster and easier entry to participating economies in the Asia Pacific, Central and South America, the United States and Canada.

Sally McLean, BMG convenor, outlined that the primary function of the group has “been to manage the ABTC scheme and discuss how it could evolve. Over the years, we’ve seen the evolution [of the ABTC scheme] that has been supported by the group. All 21 economies have a part in how the ABTC scheme operates.”

The BMG convenor also highlighted some of the group’s priorities for 2023 including mobility and digitalization as well as the steps member economies are taking to improve the ABTC scheme and expand its value for the region’s businesses, including small and medium enterprises.
The BMG launched the virtual ABTC in November 2020 and by 1 March 2021, all member economies agreed to allow entry to virtual ABTC cardholders.

“The primary responsibility or role of the ABTC is to provide for seamless travel for business people—by and large—across the APEC economies.”
Digital advancements in processes streamline and strengthen management of the ABTC scheme, as well as enhance security and reduce costs for both users and their economies.

“The virtual ABTC is an innovation to be able to digitalize the ABTC, essentially. Taking it out of your wallet or your purse and putting it onto your smartphones. So really it is an excellent innovation that has a whole lot of security parameters that are superior to having a [physical] ABTC.
“At this stage…10 economies have signed up to [the virtual ABTC], which is really great. Among some of those economies, Australia and New Zealand, for example, we now only issue a virtual ABTC, so we no longer print the physical card.

A number of other economies will provide both [the physical and virtual ABTC] to be able to support the transition of their business travelers to the virtual card. But all economies in 2021, agreed to accept the virtual card.”
Member economies that have transitioned to the virtual platform so far include: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Indonesia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, and Thailand.
The BMG is also focused on ensuring opportunities to travel for business travel with the ABTC are inclusive.

“Importantly, those business travelers, the eligibility associated with business travelers is quite broad. Some economies will approve an ABTC for startup businesses. You don’t have to be small, medium or large enterprise to actually have access to seamless travel into the APEC economies, which is fantastic.”

The safe and seamless facilitation of business travel across borders is also a key priority of the BMG.

“The BMG places great focus on having conversations about how economies are moving to be able to open up their borders, to enable that business travel to be undertaken, and move into digitalization and contactless travel.

There are a whole lot of reasons why you would move into digitalization, security being one of those elements…[and] the efficiency of the process. Having those technologies in place does certainly make it faster to be able to get through immigration checkpoints…[Digitalization] has [also] become particularly relevant in a health context…”

ΝΑΤΟ interesting latest news

 

10 March 2023 Update NATO Secretary General hosts meeting of senior officials from Türkiye, Finland and Sweden On 9 March 2023, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg convened representatives from the governments of Türkiye, Finland and Sweden - the parties to the Permanent Joint Mechanism established by the Trilateral Memorandum signed in Madrid on the margins of the 2022 NATO Summit. This was the third such meeting of the Permanent Joint Mechanism since its creation last year. READ MORE NATO Secretary General at EU Defence Ministerial: we must boost ammunition stockpiles, ramp up production Arriving at a meeting of EU Defence Ministers on 8 March 2023, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg underlined the importance of strengthened ammunition stockpiles and more joint procurement in order to continue supporting Ukraine. READ MORE NATO Secretary General to parliamentarians: support Ukraine for as long as it takes NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg underlined the need to support Ukraine for as long as it takes in an address to Christian Democratic Union, Christian Social Union and European People’s Party Group parliamentarians on 6 March 2023. READ MORE Secretary General in Stockholm: time to welcome Finland and Sweden as NATO Allies The time has come to welcome Sweden and Finland into NATO, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on 7 March 2023 at the start of a two-day visit to Stockholm. READ MORE NATO Secretary General: Albania plays a key role promoting stability in the Western Balkans Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg praised Albania for its contributions to NATO in a meeting with President Bajram Begaj at NATO Headquarters on 7 March 2023. READ MORE NATO marks International Women’s Day with conference on gender equality in technology On International Women’s Day, experts from across the Alliance convened at NATO Headquarters to discuss the role that women and gender play in shaping future technologies and how technologies need to be adapted to empower and protect women and men equally in both civilian and military domains. READ MORE NATO Deputy Secretary General: resilience requires close cooperation with partners like Ireland Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană underlined the importance of NATO’s partnership with Ireland in remarks delivered online to the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) on 6 March 2023. READ MORE NATO team in North Macedonia to help against hybrid attacks NATO sent a senior-level delegation to North Macedonia on 7 March 2023 to help the NATO Ally cope with the consequences of recent hybrid attacks. READ MORE NATO delivers buses to the Military Women’s Training Centre of Jordan For servicewomen of the Jordanian Armed Forces, lack of transport can limit their professional training and career development. To address that shortfall, two 23-seater buses were delivered to the Military Women’s Training Centre in Zarqa, as part of NATO’s Defence Capacity Building package for Jordan. READ MORE NATO launches counter-terrorism capacity-building course NATO has launched an online counter-terrorism capacity-building course open to participants from Allied and partner countries READ MORE THIS WEEK IN PICTURES Women in Uniform For International Women’s Day, we have collected some of our favourite photos of women in uniform taken throughout NATO’s history. SUBSCRIBE

NATO HQ, Blvd Leopold III 1110 Brussels, Belgium

NATO Secretary General at EU Defence Ministerial: we must boost ammunition stockpiles, ramp up production Arriving at a meeting of EU Defence Ministers on Wednesday (8 March 2023), NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg underlined the importance of strengthened ammunition stockpiles and more joint procurement in order to continue supporting Ukraine. He noted that NATO Allies have provided Ukraine with support worth nearly €150 billion over the past year, of which €65 billion has been military support. He added that NATO-EU cooperation continues to be vital in supporting Ukraine and protecting shared values. Click here to download the doorstep statement by the NATO Secretary General. As well as footage of his visit to Sweden. Click here to read the transcript of the NATO Secretary General's doorstep statement.

Women in Uniform For International Women’s Day, we have collected some of our favourite photos of women in uniform taken throughout NATO’s history. Women are integral to the success of Allied forces, filling vital roles like pilot, engineer, medic, radio and telephone operator, soldier and strategic planner, to name just a few. READ MORE

NATO Secretary General in Stockholm: time to welcome Finland and Sweden as NATO Allies The time has come to welcome Sweden and Finland into NATO, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said today (7 March 2023) at the start of a two-day visit to Stockholm. In a news conference with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, he said the accession of the two countries “is a top priority, and we are making progress”. The NATO Secretary General said that he had convened another meeting between Türkiye, Sweden and Finland at NATO Headquarters on 9 March. He also welcomed that the Hungarian Parliament has started discussions on ratification, saying that he expects the process there to be completed shortly. Click here to download the joint press conference by the NATO Secretary General and the Prime Minister of Sweden, as well as the Q&A session.  Click here for the webstory and the transcript of the joint press conference.  NATO Secretary General: Albania plays a key role promoting stability in the Western Balkans NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, praised Albania for its contributions to NATO in a meeting with President Bajram Begaj at NATO Headquarters today (7 March 2023). The NATO Secretary General thanked Albania for playing a key role in promoting stability and cooperation across the Western Balkans, a region of strategic importance to NATO. Mr Stoltenberg also welcomed Albania’s contributions to NATO deployments, including in Latvia, Bulgaria, Kosovo, and Iraq, and Albania’s pledges of aid for Ukraine. Click here for the joint press conference by the NATO Secretary General and the President of Albania, as well as footage of their meeting.  Click here for the webstory and the transcript of the joint press conference.

NATO Allies practise submarine hunting in Exercise Dynamic Manta 23 Naval forces from nine Allied countries are participating in the annual anti-submarine warfare exercise off the coast of Sicily, Italy. Led by NATO Allied Maritime Command, Dynamic Manta 23 runs from 27 February to 10 March. Ships, submarines and aircraft from Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, Türkiye, the United Kingdom and the United States took part in the exercise. Dynamic Manta 23 provides the opportunity for NATO Allies to combat submarines from the air, surface and under water. During the exercise, surface ships are working with maritime patrol aircraft and submarines in a simulated submarine hunt to locate and neutralise threats. The maritime domain is of strategic importance for NATO and NATO is determined to help protect its Allies from any possible threats at sea or from the sea. Click here to download the b-roll. Footage includes shots of Allied ships in formation, as well as an interview with the Commander of NATO Submarine Command, US Navy Rear Admiral Stephen Mack.