REGIONAL OFFICE FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC (OAP)

Asia-Pacific Regional Seminar

IMF’s Latest Global Economic Outlook & Strategies to Mitigate Climate Change

The IMF recently revised its projection of global economic growth for 2021 from 5.2% to 5.5%, citing expectations of a vaccine-driven strengthening of activity later this year and additional policy support by governments. The IMF Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific hosted a webinar on the recent World Economic Outlook (WEO) with two speakers from the IMF Research Department on February 24. They presented an overview of the IMF’s latest global economic outlook and policy priorities for securing the recovery, and a strategy to combat climate change through a combination of a green investment push combined with steadily rising carbon prices.

Speakers’ bios

• Malhar Nabar heads the World Economic Studies Division in the IMF's Research Department, which produces the World Economic Outlook (WEO). In previous roles in the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department, he covered China and Japan, and was mission chief for Hong Kong, SAR. Malhar’s research interests are in financial development, investment, and productivity growth. Before joining the IMF in 2009, he was an Assistant Professor of Economics at Wellesley College. He holds a Ph.D. from Brown University.

• Florence Jaumotte is a Deputy Division Chief in the IMF’s Research Department. She has worked in the Multilateral Surveillance Division and the World Economic Studies Division of the Research Department, as well as on a number of country teams. Her research interests include: open-economy macroeconomics, economic growth, inequality, labor market institutions and climate. Previously, she has worked in the Economics Department of the OECD in Paris. She holds a Master in Economics from the University of Namur in Belgium and a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University.