Opening Remarks by Deputy Managing Director Kenji Okamura at the Eleventh Tokyo Fiscal Forum

IMF News, June 10, 2026

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Remarks delivered at the 11th Tokyo Fiscal Forum (June 10, 2026).
Global economy affected by the war in the Middle East, which is:
- disrupting energy markets,
- pushing up prices,
- weighing on growth.
Oil importers and countries with limited buffers are being hit the hardest; some countries in the region are grappling with fuel shortages.
The forum is co-hosted with the PRI of Japan’s Ministry of Finance and the Asian Development Bank Institute; Japan provides continued generous support.

Global public debt is at a historical high, at around 94 percent of GDP.
Interest spending has climbed rapidly, to nearly 3 percent of GDP.
The room for maneuver will narrow further as countries face:
- higher energy and food prices,
- rising defense spending,
- mounting interest bills.
Policymakers face difficult trade-offs between short-term support and medium-term fiscal sustainability.

Governments must balance:
- protecting the most vulnerable, with
- preserving market price signals.
Once the condition stabilizes, governments must rebuild buffers in an environment of increased spending pressures.
The key challenge: rebuild buffers and preserve fiscal sustainability in a way that doesn’t create new vulnerabilities.
Research highlights opportunities to improve the quality and efficiency of spending, including by avoiding broad-based subsidies that are costly and regressive.

Theme 1 (fiscal policy and growth): how building fiscal space in a growth-friendly manner or changing the composition of spending can improve fiscal dynamics.
- Focus areas: improve quality and efficiency of spending; avoid broad-based, costly, regressive subsidies.
Theme 2 (GovTech): how stronger public financial management and revenue administration can help countries do more with limited resources by:
- improving compliance,
- strengthening spending controls,
- enhancing transparency (critical for building public support for difficult policy choices).
Interest in peer learning: the forum aims to surface how countries are applying latest technologies in innovative ways.

The IMF is scaling up capacity development:
- in collaboration with development banks,
- through the Global Public Finance Partnership—to which Japan and Korea are generous contributors from the region.
The IMF invites suggestions on how to enhance its support and strengthen the forum and other peer-learning platforms.

The speaker looks forward to productive and insightful discussions at the forum.

Opening Remarks by Deputy Managing Director Kenji Okamura at the Eleventh Tokyo Fiscal Forum, June 10, 2026.