## Capacity Building as Life-Long Learning: The Joint Vienna Institute

_IMF News, June 30, 2017_

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## Bibliographic details
- Authors: Mitsuhiro Furusawa
- Published: June 30, 2017

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### Introduction
- Speaker: Mitsuhiro Furusawa, IMF Deputy Managing Director; remarks prepared for delivery at the Joint Vienna Institute, Vienna, Austria, June 30, 2017.
- JVI has been supported by Austrian partners (OeNB and Ministry of Finance) for 25 years.
- Core message: capacity building must be continuous—lifelong learning is essential for individuals, countries, the IMF, and the JVI to remain relevant amid rapid structural and technological change.

### Global Outlook
- World Economic Outlook (April): global activity picking up with cyclical recovery in investment, manufacturing, and trade.
- Key growth projections:
  - World growth: 3.1 percent in 2016; 3.5 percent in 2017; 3.6 percent in 2018.
- Positive signs: stronger activity, stronger demand expectations, reduced deflationary pressures, optimistic financial markets.
- Obstacles to recovery:
  - inadequate implementation of measures to address legacies of the global financial crisis such as high levels of corporate debt and nonperforming bank loans;
  - the threat of inward-looking policies that threaten global economic integration;
  - the continued slow growth of productivity, especially in the advanced economies.

### The Challenges Facing the Region
- Regional medium-term outlook and projections:
  - Emerging Europe: growth reaching 3 percent in 2017 and rising to 3.3 percent in 2018.
  - Russia and the rest of the CIS: growth rising from 1.7 percent in 2017 to 2.1 percent in 2018.
  - Caucasus and Central Asia: growth of 2.4 percent in 2016; expected to pick up to 3.1 percent in 2017 and 4.1 percent in 2018.
  - Turkey: growth has rebounded somewhat after a sharp drop amid elevated political uncertainty.
- Downside risk tilt to the outlook for the JVI region.
- Principal policy challenges (country-specific but broadly relevant across the region):
  - Fiscal consolidation and reducing public debt in a growth-friendly fashion.
  - Further strengthening of monetary policy frameworks to support increased exchange rate flexibility and to keep inflation under control.
  - Addressing weaknesses in financial sectors, including by further repairing balance sheets, restraining high dollarization, and reducing NPLs.
  - Implementing structural reforms to raise medium-term growth prospects, including diversifying economies, reducing reliance on remittances, and building sustained and inclusive growth.

### The Role of the IMF and the JVI
- Capacity development (institutional and individual) is crucial for effective policy advice and lending to have impact.
- Training and technical assistance represent a significant portion of the Fund’s operational budget.
- Delivery channels:
  - global network of training and technical assistance centers;
  - JVI as the first of the IMF’s regional training centers and a model replicated elsewhere.
- Current scale: there are now eight IMF regional training centers and programs around the world.
- JVI’s contributions:
  - Delivers IMF training and training by many partners, including Austrian authorities.
  - Has provided know-how, facilities, substantial funding, and relationship-building among policymakers across the region.
- Capacity development is not “brick and mortar”: focus is on ensuring qualified staff can use new legal and regulatory tools, formulate policies, and execute them.

### Training at JVI
- Lifelong learning ethos embedded in JVI’s operations.
- Participant mix varies by course: junior, mid-level, and high-level officials.
- Curriculum covers basic to advanced topics to address skill gaps at all career stages.
- Evolution of course content:
  - Early transition period: fundamentals of how market economies work.
  - Post-global-financial-crisis: increased emphasis on financial sector issues, fiscal and monetary policy roles in crisis mitigation.
  - Recovery phase: shift toward medium-term structural policies to generate strong, sustainable, equitable, and inclusive growth.
- New approaches to training being introduced:
  - cooperation with central banks in the region;
  - peer-to-peer events;
  - online training;
  - public lectures; and
  - active outreach work.

### Inclusive Growth
- Inclusive growth defined as broadly shared benefits and opportunities of economic growth; reflects:
  - growth that is robust and broad-based;
  - growth that promotes productive employment across the labor force;
  - growth that embodies equal opportunities in access to markets and resources;
  - growth that protects the vulnerable.
- Challenges to inclusion:
  - Technological change, including automation and robotics, increasing risk to low-skill jobs.
  - Need for broad-based access to education to address automation risks.
  - Intergenerational sustainability concerns, including climate impact of growth strategies.
  - Persistent low female labor participation and high gender wage gaps in most countries.
- Tradeoffs: creating sustainable and inclusive growth is complex and may require balancing competing objectives.
- Role of growth: foundation for inclusion but exclusive focus on growth can undermine inclusion; high and persistent inequality can threaten growth sustainability.
- Institutional response: the Fund’s recently revised capacity development curriculum is being delivered in its entirety this year, including at the JVI, to present IMF expertise in an up-to-date and systematic fashion.

### Conclusion and Policy Imperatives
- JVI’s flexibility and dynamism have enabled it to remain relevant for 25 years; positioned to meet future challenges.
- IMF commitment: continue to provide financing, policy advice, and capacity building to the region whenever asked.
- Call to action for country authorities: continue to use the JVI to strengthen institutional and human capacity.
- Closing note: congratulations to JVI on 25 years and encouragement for continued use and support of the institute.

*Source: Speech by Mitsuhiro Furusawa, IMF Deputy Managing Director, “Capacity Building as Life-Long Learning: The Joint Vienna Institute,” Joint Vienna Institute, June 30, 2017.*

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2017/06/29/sp62917-capacity-building-as-life-long-learning-the-joint-vienna-institute_