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General Macroeconomic Analysis

These courses, presented by the IMF Institute, are designed to equip officials with the ability to interpret macroeconomic developments using various techniques and apply analysis to policy formation and forecasting.

Intro

This course, presented by the Institute for Capacity Development, explains how to diagnose macroeconomic imbalances and correct them through a coordinated set of adjustment policies. It covers the principal features of the four main macroeconomic sectors (real, fiscal, external, and monetary) and their interlinkages, highlighting both accounting and behavioral relationships and using data from a country case study.

Intro

This online course, presented by the Institute for Capacity Development, explains the basic skills required to conduct financial programming; the principal features of the accounts of the four main sectors that comprise the macroeconomy (real, fiscal, external, and monetary); and how they relate to each other. For each sector, the course presents the accounting framework, interpretations of variables and indicators from these accounts, and basic analysis of the accounts.

Intro

This online course, presented by the Institute for Capacity Development, builds on the FPP.1x course to expand participants’ understanding of the design and application of macroeconomic and financial policies. It presents simple forecasting methods for each macroeconomic sector, explains the baseline assumptions for the diagnosis of macroeconomic performance, and demonstrates the preparation of a macroeconomic adjustment program for a case study country.

Intermediate

This course, presented by the Institute for Capacity Development, is designed to reinforce the macroeconomic forecasting and modeling skills of participants and their use of modern econometric techniques. Lectures discuss the underlying theory and demonstrations show how to conduct empirical analyses using EViews. The course focuses on four aspects of empirical model building and forecasting:

  • data and model properties, such as stationarity/non-stationarity and co-integration;
  • dynamic specifications, especially the use of error correction models;
  • model evaluation, design, and simulation; and
  • forecast uncertainty and policy analysis.

Intermediate

This course, presented by the Institute for Capacity Development, is designed to strengthen participants’ ability to comprehensively assess a country’s macroeconomic situation, including the current state of the economy; the stance of fiscal and monetary policy; financial stability; exchange rate misalignments; vulnerabilities in the different sectors; and the medium-term outlook, especially the sustainability of public and external debt.

The course emphasizes practical tools for use in day-to-day macroeconomic analysis and relies on case studies relevant to the region where the course is given to illustrate how these tools are applied and how they can contribute to the policymaking process.

Intermediate

This online course, presented by the Institute for Capacity Development, is designed to strengthen participants’ ability to assess a country’s macroeconomic situation; it emphasizes practical tools for use in day-to-day macroeconomic analysis. The course covers assessments of:

  • the current state of the macroeconomy;
  • the stance of fiscal and monetary policy;
  • financial stability; and
  • the medium-term prospects of the economy, taking into account the sustainability of public and external debt, possible misalignments of the exchange rate, and vulnerabilities arising in the different sectors.

The course uses a case study to illustrate application of these tools and to show how they can contribute to the policymaking process.

Advanced

This course, presented by the Institute for Capacity Development, gives government officials a rigorous foundation estimating of macro-econometric models and their application for nowcasting, forecasting, and policy analysis in central banks, ministries, and public research institutions. The course examines univariate and multivariate econometric time series models, state-space models, and nowcasting techniques such as BRIDGE, MIDAS, and UMIDAS models. Each topic includes a lecture discussing the underlying theory and a workshop with EViews applications. Participants work in groups on hands-on estimation and forecasting exercises.

This course provides an overview of the science and economic costs of climate change, discusses policy options for adaptation and mitigation (including pricing carbon emissions and removing of fossil fuel subsidies), and analyzes challenges and opportunities related to transitioning to greener economic models.

This course, presented by the IMF's Institute for Capacity Development, uses the main building blocks of a standard FPP course - sector interrelations and adjustment policies - but places significant emphasis on analytical and technical issues related to an Inflation Targeting (IT) monetary framework and the channels of monetary transmission. Special attention is given to how central bankers following an IT strategy respond to macroeconomic disequilibria arising from domestic and external shocks, and to the attendant effects on output and inflation.
The course includes lectures on the main policy issues underlying adjustment programs, emphasizing complementarities and coordination among policies. Case studies are presented on current economic issues and on the experiences of countries that have adopted an IT framework. The course includes a series of workshops in which participants are divided into groups, under the guidance of counselors, to work on analytical and forecasting techniques for the macroeconomic sectors and on various specialized topics, including IT techniques. The final part of the course is devoted to the preparation of a hypothetical adjustment program for an IT country from Latin America.

This course, presented by the Institute for Capacity Development, focuses on building, using, and interpreting DSGE models. It aims to familiarize participants with the models and techniques commonly employed by policymakers to analyze monetary and fiscal matters. The course dedicates numerous lectures to addressing model design and implementation issues. It uses region-specific case studies to demonstrate the practical application of these models and their potential contributions to the policymaking process. Additionally, the course explores the benefits and limitations of utilizing these models for policy analysis and advice. 

This course, presented by the Institute for Capacity Development, provides participants with cutting-edge nowcasting tools that familiarize them with the concepts and methods to incorporate high-frequency economic indicators into the forecasting process, while integrating this training into technical assistance on data compilation and dissemination. Each topic is complemented by hands-on workshops and assignments designed to illuminate the steps required to formulate a nowcasting model and generate a nowcast. 

This course, presented by the Institute for Capacity Development, explains how to project the stock of public debt over time for baseline (most likely) and alternative scenarios and how to estimate the path of fiscal adjustments necessary to reach a pre-determined target level of debt.This two-module course, lays out the underpinnings of public debt dynamics (i.e., the evolution of public debt over time) and explains how these concepts are applied in an easy-to-use Excel-based Public Debt Dynamics Tool (DDT). Using projections of some 10 key macroeconomic and financial variables, the DDT provides public debt projections under baseline and stress test scenarios, including through fan charts that describe uncertainty about the evolution of debt over time in a probabilistic manner. The DDT also identifies the main drivers of public debt changes and computes measures of fiscal adjustments that are necessary to achieve a public debt target during a certain period, as specified by the user.

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