KABANDA CHULU
Washington, DC
INTERNATIONAL Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Kristalina Georgieva says the world must avoid past mistakes when the negative impact of globalisation on some communities was ignored and led to a backlash against an integrated global economy.
And the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has achieved the International
Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 20121 Certification for sustainable hosting of international events, including its flagship annual and Spring meetings.
Ms Georgieva said lifting up growth prospects is paramount to improving living standards and strengthening economic resilience that requires eliminating constraints to economic activity and creating opportunities to boost productivity growth.
“Foundational reforms such as strengthening governance, cutting red tape, increasing female labour market participation, improving access to capital, all have a role to play. Across emerging and developing countries, a wellsequenced package of reforms could lift output by eight percent in four years,” she said during a discussion anchored by Atlantic Council president and chief executive officer Fred Kempe.
“If there is no market failure, there is a need for caution. The case for government intervention is much weaker. Some of the measures announced or implemented last year were not always clearly related to market failures and IMF staff has stepped up work in this area because more data, analysis and dialogue are needed to avoid costly mistakes.
“More broadly, we advocate for more trade and cross-border investment flows to increase productivity and address global challenges, and for more attention to how the benefits from trade and investment are shared in society.”
She called for the strengthening of cooperation on policy matters for the world.
“The pandemic, wars, and geopolitical tensions have changed the playbook for global economic relations. Policy-makers are looking to strike a balance between efficiency and security, between cost considerations and resilience in supply chains. There are already signs that trade relations are being reshaped,” Ms Georgieva said.
“Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, trade growth between economies in politically distant blocs has slowed by 2.4 percentage points more than trade among those that are more closely aligned. As trade flows are re-routed, ‘connector’ countries may benefit. But supply chains are lengthening, with potential costs at each step.”
And Ms Georgieva said the time has come to rebuild fiscal buffers among member states.
“Over the past couple of years, we have advocated for fiscal policy restraint to support central banks as they fight inflation. A focus on fiscal policy is now warranted in its own right. Fiscal buffers are exhausted and debt levels in most countries are simply too high,” she said.
“The trend of rising debts began more than a decade ago during a prolonged period of very low interest rates. The pandemic necessitated an unprecedented fiscal response to protect lives and livelihoods.
Debt surged even more. Now, we are in an era of far higher interest rates. This is pushing up the cost of servicing debt.”
Ms Georgieva said the IMF has been and remains a transmission line for good policies and a place for economic cooperation.
“In a fast-changing and more turbulent world, bringing countries together to tackle challenges and pursue opportunities is more important than ever. When the world was hit by the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis, the IMF acted decisively to provide financial and policy support to our members,” she said….https://enews.daily-mail.co.zm/welcome/home
