IMF Engagement on Education Spending in Surveillance and Program Work
Technical Notes and Manuals, April 28, 2025
Source details
- Canonical URL
- IMF Engagement on Education Spending in Surveillance and Program Work
Other formats
Bibliographic details
- Authors: Mauricio Soto, Geremia Palomba, Fernanda Brollo, Nick Carroll, Zsuzsa Munkacsi, Alberto Tumino, Tohid Atashbar, Baoping Shang, Dawit Tessema
- Published: April 28, 2025
- Series: Technical Notes and Manuals
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400298677.005
Purpose and scope
- Provides guidance to staff on engaging on education spending issues in surveillance and program contexts following the IMF’s 2019 social spending strategy.
- Emphasizes that engaging on education spending supports the Fund’s macroeconomic mandate because education is a key determinant of economic growth and development and plays a fundamental role in reducing inequalities.
- Notes that public intervention in education is widespread and generally justified on both efficiency and equity grounds.
- Observes that large gaps exist across countries in both education access and learning outcomes.
Assessment framework: macro-criticality channels
- Engagement is guided by an assessment of macro-criticality which can arise through three channels:
- Spending adequacy
- Spending efficiency
- Fiscal sustainability
- The note aims to guide staff on how to assess these three channels.
Engagement in surveillance contexts
- Focus on macro-critical education issues is warranted when such issues affect or have the potential to affect domestic or external stability.
- The extent and purpose of engagement will vary across countries.
Engagement in program settings
- Engagement on macro-critical education issues may arise when such issues are critical to achieve program objectives or to monitor program implementation.
- The extent and purpose of engagement will vary across programs.
Operational considerations and collaboration
- When engaging on macro-critical education spending issues, it is important to collaborate with development partners.
- The note is intended to inform staff judgment on whether and how to engage, recognizing cross-country and program heterogeneity.
Key publication facts and identifiers
- Authors: Mauricio Soto, Geremia Palomba, Fernanda Brollo, Nick Carroll, Zsuzsa Munkacsi, Alberto Tumino, Tohid Atashbar, Baoping Shang, Dawit Tessema
- Date: April 28, 2025
- Series: Technical Notes and Manuals No. 2025/007
- Issue: 007
- Volume: 2025
- Pages: 43
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400298677.005
- ISBN: 9798400298677
- ISSN: 2075-8669
IMF Technical Guidance Note “IMF Engagement on Education Spending in Surveillance and Program Work”, Technical Notes and Manuals No. 2025/007 (April 28, 2025).
Content in this bundle
- IMF Engagement on Education Spending in Surveillance and Program Work; March 2025; TNM 2025/07