IMF Executive Board decided to distribute the remaining windfall gold sales profits (approximately US $2.7 billion) as part of a strategy to make the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) sustainable over the longer term. This provides additional resources for the IMF to help low-income countries promote strong and sustainable growth.
New research, carried out as background to the review of LIC Facilities, found that the Fund had played a positive role over the longer term in helping countries raise growth, reduce poverty and strengthen resilience to shocks in LICs. Looking ahead, the review floats various proposals to target the Fund's scarce concessional resources better to countries' needs.
Continuing the staff's analytical focus on the implications of rising income inequality, a new Staff Discussion Note, prepared by the Fiscal Affairs Department, finds that public spending and taxation policies can play a crucial role in addressing rising income inequality in both advanced and developing economies.
African Ministers meet to discuss energy subsidy reform during the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings.
The staff's latest assessment of LIC risks and vulnerabilities found that, although LICs' recovery continued since 2010, in general progress in rebuilding policy buffers has halted and vulnerabilities are re-emerging. LICs remain vulnerable to a euro-centered growth shock, a protracted global growth slowdown, and to shocks to global food and fuel prices. To deal with these, LICs would need to adjust depending on cyclical conditions, supported by Fund financing, while preserving critical spending.
Two IMF papers highlight innovative approaches to managing exhaustible natural resource wealth in developing countries. First step: increasing the fiscal revenue from natural resources; Next: macroeconomic policy frameworks that ensure revenue is well-used, and supports transforming subsoil assets into other productive assets. A seminar on natural resource management was held at the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings.
Joint IMF, CFSP, World Bank, and DFID Conference on Financial Deepening, Macro-Stability, and Growth in Developing Countries
The conference provided a forum for discussing research on financial deepening issues in emerging markets and low-income countries and to facilitate the exchange of views among academics and policymakers.
| Nov. 2012, Volume 2(2) |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Management Speeches on LIC Issues
- Opening remarks at the Pacific Seminar, by Min Zhu
- Will Asia Remain Resilient to Global Economic Headwinds? Near-term Economic Prospects and Risks, by Naoyuki Shinohara
- Partnership and Recovery – The Shared Path to Global Stability and Growth, by Christine Lagarde
Finance & Development Magazine
- Theme of the September issue: The Global Village has Arrived
- Featured articles: Convergence, Interdependence, and Divergence; Fueling Risk; and Back on the Map
- Featured articles: IMF, World Bank Support $2.1 Billion Debt Relief for Guinea; Emerging, Developing Economies Now More Resilient; Sub-Saharan Africa Maintains Growth in an Uncertain World; Oil Revenue Has Power to Transform Countries of Central Africa; IMF support to poor countries gets needed boost; Review of LIC Facilities; and Sound Natural Resource Wealth Management for Development
- Middle East and Central Asia; Asia and Pacific; Western Hemisphere; Sub-Saharan Africa Featured Articles: Maintaining Growth in an Uncertain World; Nigeria and South Africa: Spillovers to the Rest of Sub-Saharan Africa; Structural Transformation in Sub- Saharan Africa
- Commodity Price Volatility and Inclusive Growth in Low-Income Countries; eds R. Arezki, C. Pattillo, M. Quintyn, and M. Zhu
- Oil Wealth in Central Africa: Policies for Inclusive Growth; eds B. Akitoby and S. Coorey
Working Papers on LIC Issues (May—November 2012)
- Exogenous shocks and Growth Crises in Low-Income Countries: A Vulnerability Index; by E. Dabla-Norris and Y. Bal-Gunduz
- To Cut or Not to Cut? That is the (Central Bank's) Question In Search of the Neutral Interest Rate in Latin America; by N. Magud and E.Tsounta
- Natural Disasters: Mitigating Impact, Managing Risks; by N. Laframboise and B. Loko
- Caribbean Growth in an International Perspective: The Role of Tourism and Size; by N. Thacker and R. Perrelli
- Determinants of Growth Spells: is Africa Different? ; by C. Tsangarides
- Taxation and Development – Again; by M. Keen
- How much should I hold? Reserve Adequacy in Emerging Markets and Small Islands; by N. Mwase
- Exchange Rate and Foreign Interest Rate Linkages for Sub-Saharan Africa Floaters; by A. Thomas
- Inflation Dynamics in Mongolia: Understanding the Roller Coaster; by S. Barnett, et al.
- Foreign Aid and Revenue: Still a Crowding Out Effect?; by D. Benedek, et al.
- Environmental Tax Reform: Principles from Theory and Practice to Date; by D. Heine, et al.
- Global and Regional Spillovers to Pacific Island Countries; by N. Sheridan, et al.
- Fiscal Transparency, Fiscal Performance and Credit Ratings; by E. Arbatli and J. Escolano
- Threshold Effects of Sovereign Debt: Evidence from the Caribbean; by R. Craigwell, et al.
- Monetization in Low- and Middle-Income Countries; by C. McLoughlin and N. Kinoshita
- Exchange Rate Pass-Through in Sub-Saharan African Economies and its Determinants; by F. Razafimahefa
- How Effective Is Monetary Transmission in Low-Income Countries? A Survey of the Empirical Evidence; by P. Mishra and P. Montiel
- Public Investment, Growth, and Debt Sustainability: Putting Together the Pieces; by E. Buffie, et al.
- Evolution of Debt Sustainability Analysis in Low-Income Countries: Some Aggregate Evidence; by B. Baduel and R. Price
- Financial Intermediation Costs in Low-Income Countries: The Role of Regulatory, Institutional, and Macroeconomic Factors; by T. Poghosyan
- Tracking Short-Term Dynamics of Economic Activity in Low-Income Countries in the Absence of High-Frequency GDP Data; by M. Opoku-Afari and S. Dixit
- Exchange Rate Pass Through to Prices in Maldives; by I. Masha and C. Park
- As You Sow So Shall You Reap: Public Investment Surges, Growth, and Debt Sustainability in Togo; by M. Andrle, et al.
- Welfare Effects of Monetary Integration: the Common Monetary Area and Beyond; by T. Asonuma, et al.
- The Effects of Government Spending under Limited Capital Mobility; by W. Shen and S. Yang
- Mobilizing Revenue in Sub-Saharan Africa: Empirical Norms and Key Determinants; by P. Drummond, et al.
- Financial Intermediation Costs in Low-Income Countries: The Role of Regulatory, Institutional, and Macroeconomic Factors; by T. Poghosyan