IMF Podcasts

While there are signs of a recovery in advanced economies, sub-Saharan Africa is still in the throes of an unprecedented health and economic crisis. The second wave of COVID-19 infections was worse than the first and countries are bracing for more, while access to vaccines is scant at best. Most African countries will be struggling to vaccinate essential frontline workers this year, let alone the broader population. The latest Regional Economic Outlook for sub-Saharan Africa lays out the challenges that the region is facing and comes up with some policy recommendations to deal with critical issues like debt management and the financing of vaccine procurement. Papa N'Diaye leads the team that produces the biannual report. In this podcast, he says sub-Saharan Africa will be the world's slowest growing region in 2021. Read the report at IMF.org

Debt levels in many countries were high when the pandemic hit. But today, global public debt is reaching 100 percent of GDP. In this podcast, we hear a panel discussion about the very real danger for some countries of falling into a debt trap. The seminar was held during the 2021 IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings and featured IMF Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, Mohamed El-Erian, President of Queens' College, Cambridge, and Vera Songwe, Under-Secretary-General at the United Nations. The Panel was moderated by Martin Wolf, Chief Economics Commentator at the Financial Times. Go to IMF.org to watch the webcast.

Global prospects are looking better one year into the pandemic, albeit highly uncertain. The latest World Economic Outlook (WEO) places growth at 6% for 2021, compared to 2020's unprecedented contraction of -3.3%. But recovery is by and large vaccine-dependent and the lack of access to vaccines is making recovery hard to imagine for some countries, while others are well on their way. Malhar Nabar is Division Chief in the IMF Research Department and heads the WEO. In this podcast, he says these divergent recoveries are a big concern. Transcript Read the WEO and the blog at IMF.org Transcript: http://traffic.libsyn.com/imfpodcast/WEO-April_2021-transcript-IMF_Podcast.pdf

While emerging markets suffered huge portfolio outflows at the beginning of the pandemic, the latest Global Financial Stability Report (GFSR) shows capital flows have returned and the outlook continues to improve, partly because of low interest rates in countries such as the United States. The new report takes a close look at the possibility of rising interest rates and what that would mean for emerging market economies trying to recover from the pandemic. Fabio Natalucci is Deputy Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department and heads the GFSR. In this podcast, he says a lagging recovery in emerging markets is a risk to global financial stability. Transcript Read the report: https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/GFSR Read the blog: https://blogs.imf.org/ Transcript: http://traffic.libsyn.com/imfpodcast/GFSR-April_2021-transcript-IMF_Podcast.pdf

More than a year into the COVID-19 crisis, signs of a recovery for some countries are slowly beginning to emerge. But in her customary curtain-raiser speech ahead of next week's virtual IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said high uncertainty is one of the greatest dangers facing the global economy. Go to IMF.org to follow the Spring Meetings and find all the IMF flagship reports, including the World Economic Outlook, the Global Financial Stability Report, and the Fiscal Monitor.

2020 was a record-breaking year for housing markets in many countries- including the US, but for the commercial real estate sector, it was a completely different story. Lockdown and containment measures severely affected economic activity, pushing down commercial property transactions and prices in cities around the world. A new analytical chapter in the IMF Global Financial Stability Report looks at how continued downward pressure on prices could threaten financial stability and hamper the recovery. In this podcast, lead author Andrea Deghi and team lead Mahvash Qureshi say vacancy rates of office space in the US almost doubled in 2020 due to people having to work from home, a trend likely to continue well beyond the pandemic. Read the analytical chapter: https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/GFSR/Issues/2021/04/06/global-financial-stability-report-april-2021 Read the blog: https://blogs.imf.org/

Public policy plays an important role in the recovery from the pandemic, but private sector innovation and agility can make a big difference on many counts. In this episode, Alphabet and Google CFO Ruth Porat talks with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and David Miliband, Chief Executive Officer of the International Rescue Committee, on Google's Zeitgeist podcast, an exclusive series that brings together extraordinary leaders to focus on critical issues for the world. Transcript Transcript: http://traffic.libsyn.com/imfpodcast/Google_Zeitgeist-transcript-IMF_Podcast.pdf

Earlier this month, AFRODAD's Jason Braganza was invited to participate in the IMF and European Commission's annual African Fiscal Forum, where Finance Ministers, heads of international agencies, and development partners discussed ways to support African economies through the pandemic. In this podcast, Braganza says countries need more fiscal space to boost social protection systems, provide stimulus for businesses, and create resources for vaccination procurement and rollout programs. Transcript: http://traffic.libsyn.com/imfpodcast/Jason_Braganza-transcript-IMF_Podcast.pdf

Corporate market power has been on the rise in recent decades, but a new IMF study shows the pandemic has strengthened price markups for dominant firms and increased the concentration of revenues among the biggest players in sectors such as technology and pharma. The Brookings Institution and Bruegel hosted a conversation with Kristalina Georgieva, IMF Managing Director, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice President of the European Commission, to talk about the research and discuss policy responses. In this podcast, lead author Romain Duval says a further rise in corporate market power would stifle innovation, hold back wage growth, and be a drag on the economic recovery. Romain Duval is Assistant Director in the IMF Research Department. Transcript: http://traffic.libsyn.com/imfpodcast/Market_Power-transcript-IMF_Podcast.pdf Read the Blog at https://blogs.imf.org/ Watch the webcast at https://www.brookings.edu

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen celebrate International Women's day with a conversation about the advancement of women in the field of economics. Transcript Watch the webcast HERE