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IMF chief urges more proactive push for central bank digital currencies

The head of the International Monetary Fund has urged countries to make a more proactive push to develop central bank digital currencies (CBDC). Eleven countries, including a number in the Caribbean, and Nigeria, have already launched CBDCs. Around 120 others are exploring them, although progress and approaches differ widely and a few have even abandoned the idea altogether. “We may be at a point where the public sector needs to offer a little more guidance,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a speech in Singapore. “Not to crowd out, ...

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IMF sees Greek economy growing by 2.5% this year, 2% in 2024

Greece’s economy is expected to expand by 2.5% this year due to strong domestic demand, investments and EU funds, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday. Growth will slow down to 2.0% next year, the fund said in staff concluding statement. Source: Reuters

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OECD unemployment rate unchanged at 4.8% in September 2023

The OECD unemployment rate was stable at 4.8% in September 2023, having remained below 5.0% since July 2022. The unemployment rate rose in 16 OECD countries in September 2023, was unchanged in 11, and declined in 6. The number of unemployed persons in the OECD increased to 33.3 million in September, its highest level in 2023, mainly driven by an increase in the number of unemployed men. In September 2023, the OECD unemployment rates were broadly stable across all defined categories: men, women, youth (aged 15-24) and workers aged 25 ...

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IMF says staff agreement with Ukraine could allow $900 mln disbursement

The International Monetary Fund on Friday announced a staff-level agreement with Ukraine on updated economic and financial policies, paving the way for a $900 million disbursement from its $15.6 billion lending program once approved by the board. The global lender said its executive board was expected to consider the agreement in coming weeks. It said Ukraine met all quantitative performance criteria set for the end of June, and indicative targets for the end of September, as well as most of the structural benchmarks set under the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility ...

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xChina’s Slowing Economy Will Hit Sub-Saharan Africa’s Growth

China has forged deep economic ties with countries in sub-Saharan Africa over the past 20 years, making it the region’s largest single country trading partner. China buys one-fifth of the region’s exports—metals, minerals, and fuel—and provides most of the manufactured goods and machinery imported by African countries. However, China’s recovery from the pandemic has slowed recently due to a property downturn and flagging demand for its manufactured goods as global growth has also slowed. This matters for Africa. A one percentage point decline in China’s growth rate could reduce average ...

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Fed’s Powell leans hawkish in IMF remarks

U.S. Federal Reserve officials “are not confident” that interest rates are yet high enough to finish the battle with inflation, and may be nearing the end of how much help they can expect in lowering price pressures from improvements in the supply of goods, services and labor, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Thursday. In comments prepared for delivery to an International Monetary Fund research conference, Powell said the Fed “is committed to achieving a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to bring inflation down to 2% over ...

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ECB must keep rates at or near 4% through 2024 to get inflation down -IMF

Rapid wage growth in the euro zone could keep inflation elevated longer and the European Central Bank should hold interest rates at or near record highs through next year to extinguish price pressures, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday. The ECB broke a streak of ten straight rate hikes last month, fuelling market expectations that its next move will be a cut, possibly as soon as April, with a total of 90 basis points of reductions priced in by the close of next year. Pushing back on early rate ...

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OECD headline inflation eases slightly to 6.2% in September 2023

Year-on-year inflation in the OECD, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), decreased to 6.2% in September 2023 from 6.4% in August, following increases in July and August (Figures 1 and 3). Inflation fell between August and September in 27 OECD countries. By contrast, it rose in 8 OECD countries, with rises of around or more than one percentage point (p.p.) in Spain, Costa Rica (the only OECD country where headline inflation was negative), Slovenia, and Türkiye. Double-digit inflation was recorded in Türkiye, Hungary and Colombia. Food inflation in ...

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IMF warns of inflation risks as central Europe hammers out 2024 wage deals

Big hikes in the minimum wage planned in central Europe for next year raise the risk of more persistent inflation or job losses amid relatively weak productivity growth across the region, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned. With inflation easing from double-digit levels, the region’s economies are at a turning point as ebbing price growth nudges real wages back into positive territory, which governments hope will aid consumption and a broader economic recovery next year. However, that expected boon to the region’s economies, which have slowed sharply or even ...

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IMF upgrades China’s 2023, 2024 GDP growth forecasts

China’s economy is set to grow 5.4% this year, having made a “strong” post-COVID recovery, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday, making an upward revision to its earlier forecast of 5% growth, while expecting slower growth next year. The IMF said continued weakness in the property sector and subdued external demand could restrict gross domestic product growth to 4.6% in 2024, which was still better than the 4.2% forecast contained in its World Economic Outlook (WEO), published in October. The upward revision followed a decision by China to approve ...

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Boosting skills is key to the green transition and harnessing the potential of AI

Countries should significantly scale-up efforts to strengthen initial education systems and provide improved upskilling and reskilling opportunities for lifelong learning, to ensure skills available respond more effectively to the needs in the labour market. This is also essential to ensure societies can harness the full potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics and successfully transition to a net-zero economy, according to the OECD’s Skills Outlook 2023. Investments in skills are critical to building a resilient green and digital transition. However, the speed of environmental and digital transformations is outpacing the ...

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Real household income grows for the fourth quarter in a row

Real household income per capita in the OECD rose for the fourth quarter in a row, up by 0.5% in the second quarter of 2023, while real GDP per capita grew by 0.4%(Figure 1). However, the pace of growth of real household income per capita slowed in Q2 2023 compared with Q1, when a 1.4% rise was recorded.[1] Despite the overall increase in real household income per capita, the picture was mixed across OECD countries. Of the 21 countries for which data is available, 11 recorded an increase in Q2 ...

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IMF mission starts second review of Ukraine programme

An International Monetary Fund monitoring mission started work on Monday to review an ongoing multibillion dollar programme for Ukraine, as Kyiv seeks over $41 billion in international aid to cover its budget gap next year. The IMF mission started policy talks with the Ukrainian officials on the $15.6 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) loan, the Fund said in a statement. The programme is part of a $115 billion global package to support the economy as Ukraine battles Russia’s invasion. “We are committed to a constructive analysis of the completed work ...

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Australia rate risk grows as house prices jump and IMF chimes in

Chances of an imminent hike in Australian interest rates grew on Wednesday after data showed house prices rebounding to near record highs and the International Monetary Fund recommended tightening monetary and fiscal policy screws to curb inflation. Markets responded by pricing in a near-70% chance that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will raise rates by a quarter point to 4.35% when it meets on Nov. 7, ending four months of keeping rates on hold. High readings for inflation and consumer spending had already suggested policy might be too loose, ...

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Labour International migration flows to OECD countries and market outcomes of immigrants at record highs

Permanent migration to OECD countries reached 6.1 million in 2022, a 26% increase compared with 2021, and its highest level since at least 2005. 15 out of the 38 OECD countries registered in 2022 their highest levels of permanent migration over the past 15 years. Rising labour migration was one contributing factor, as migrant workers have helped lower labour and skills shortages in OECD countries. Asylum applications in the OECD were also at a record high. Over two million new applications were lodged in OECD countries in 2022, well above ...

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