The International Monetary Fund urged Asian central banks on Thursday to focus on domestic inflation and avoid tying their policy decisions too closely to anticipated moves by the U.S. Federal Reserve. Receding expectations for a near-term interest cut by the U.S. central bank have fed steady dollar gains that have pushed down some Asian currencies such as the Japanese yen and the South Korean won. The IMF’s staff analysis showed that U.S. interest rates have a “strong and immediate” impact on Asian financial conditions and exchange rates, Krishna Srinivasan, director ...

The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday Middle East economies would grow at a slower pace this year than it previously projected as the war in Gaza, attacks on Red Sea shipping and lower oil output add to existing challenges of high debt and borrowing costs. The IMF revised down its 2024 growth forecast for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to 2.7% from 3.4% in its October regional outlook. That would be an improvement from 1.9% growth in 2023. The downward revision was driven by conflicts in ...

The International Monetary Fund’s executive board has backed a key change to give it more freedom to support countries in crisis evenif debt renegotiations with big creditor governments like China are still ongoing. The proposal is aimed at reforming what the IMF calls its Lending Into Official Arrears (LIOA) policy, a framework that determines if and when it can lend to a country that owes money to another IMF-member nation. In a statement late on Tuesday, the Fund said its board had endorsed “reforms to promote the IMF’s capacity to ...

The International Monetary Fund urged countries on Wednesday to rein in fiscal spending and rebuild their buffers, but said that could prove difficult in the world’s biggest-ever election year. A record 88 countries, home to more than half of the world’s population, have held or are holding national elections in 2024, the IMF said, noting that governments tend to spend more and tax less during election years. “The most acute risk to public finances arises from the record number of elections being held in 2024, which has led to it ...

Despite gloomy predictions, the global economy remains remarkably resilient, with steady growth and inflation slowing almost as quickly as it rose. The journey has been eventful, starting with supply-chain disruptions in the aftermath of the pandemic, an energy and food crisis triggered by Russia’s war on Ukraine, a considerable surge in inflation, followed by a globally synchronized monetary policy tightening. Global growth bottomed out at the end of 2022, at 2.3 percent, shortly after median headline inflation peaked at 9.4 percent. According to our latest World Economic Outlook projections, growth ...

OECD employment and labour force participation rates remained broadly stable at 70.1% and 73.8% in the fourth quarter of 2023, the highest levels recorded since the start of the series in 2005 and 2008, respectively. Both indicators were at or near their record highs in 10 of the 38 OECD countries, including Italy and Japan (Tables 1 and 2). In the fourth quarter of 2023, the employment rate exceeded 70% in almost two-thirds of OECD countries, including Canada, Germany, Japan, the United-Kingdom and the United States (Figure 1). The employment ...

The global economy is set for another year of slow but steady growth, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday, with U.S. strength pushing world output through headwinds from lingering high inflation, weak demand in China and Europe, and spillovers from two regional wars. The IMF forecast global real GDP growth of 3.2% for 2024 and 2025 – the same rate as in 2023. The 2024 forecast was revised upward by 0.1 percentage point from the previous World Economic Outlook’s estimate in January, largely due to a significant upward revision ...

The International Monetary Fund’s executive board on Friday selected Bulgarian economist Kristalina Georgieva to serve as managing director for a second five-year term, starting on Oct. 1 this year, the global lender said. “The Board commended Ms. Georgieva’s strong and agile leadership during her term, navigating a series of major global shocks,” it said in a statement. Georgieva had been the only candidate for the job. European Union finance ministers last month endorsed Georgieva for a second term at the helm of the lender of last resort, virtually assuring her ...

Thank you, Fred for your kind introduction, and my thanks to you and the staff of the Atlantic Council for hosting this event. Like the IMF, the Council is an institution grounded in the belief that dialogue and cooperation can build a more prosperous world. We also share some DNA. Secretary Dean Acheson, who co-founded the Atlantic Council, was also present at the Bretton Woods conference in 1944 which gave birth to the IMF and World Bank. Reflecting on his years in public service, Acheson later wrote that: “The simple ...

Inflation is easing faster than expected but has not been fully defeated, International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva said on Thursday, urging central bankers to carefully calibrate their decisions on cutting interest rates to incoming data. Georgieva said headline inflation for advanced economies was 2.3% in the final quarter of 2023, down from 9.5% just 18 months ago, and the downward trend was expected to continue in 2024. That would create the conditions for central banks in major advanced economies to begin cutting rates in the second half of the ...

Domestic shocks in emerging economies in the G20 are increasingly impacting growth in the rich world, according to a report published on Tuesday by the International Monetary Fund. Those countries — ranging from China, the world’s second-largest economy, to default-prone Argentina — have become so embedded in the global economy, particularly via trade and commodity value chains, that they are “no longer simply on the receiving end of global shocks.” “Since 2000, spillovers from domestic shocks in G20 emerging markets — particularly China — have increased and are now comparable ...

Year-on-year inflation in the OECD as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was stable in February 2024 at 5.7%, having hovered around 6.0% since May 2023 (Figures 1 and 2). Headline inflation fell in three-quarters of OECD countries, with the largest monthly declines recorded in Poland and Sweden and the largest rise in Türkiye. Headline inflation was below 2.0% in seven OECD countries and remained negative in Costa Rica. Food inflation continued to decline for the 15th consecutive month, reaching 5.3% in February after 6.3% in January, and increasing ...

Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), on Monday in Beijing, and called for closer cooperation with the IMF. Li said China has set a target of around 5 percent GDP growth this year, which is positive news for the global economy. Since the beginning of this year, China’s economy has been steadily recovering and turning for the better, achieving a good start and laying a solid foundation for meeting the economic and social development targets of the year, he added. ...

With a comprehensive package of pro-market reforms, China could grow considerably faster than a status quo scenario, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Sunday. “This additional growth would amount to a 20% expansion of the real economy over the next 15 years, in today’s terms, that is like adding $3.5 trillion to the Chinese economy,” Georgieva said in a speech to the China Development Forum, calling for steps to improve the sustainability of the property sector, reduce debt risks and focus more on domestic consumption. Decisive ...

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva warned on Thursday that central banks face growing political pressure to cut interest rates during a major election year but policymakers need to maintain their independence. Georgieva said in a blog posted on the IMF website that central banks with stronger independence scores are more successful in controlling inflation and keeping inflation expectations in check. “Calls are growing for interest rate cuts, even if premature, and are likely to intensify as half the world’s population votes this year,” Georgieva said. “Risks of political ...