{
  "title": "Opening Remarks by Deputy Managing Director Kenji Okamura at the Eleventh Tokyo Fiscal Forum",
  "publication": "IMF News, June 10, 2026",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2026/06/10/sp061026-dmd-speech-the-eleventh-tokyo-fiscal-forum",
  "canonical": "https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2026/06/10/sp061026-dmd-speech-the-eleventh-tokyo-fiscal-forum",
  "overlayPath": "/en/news/articles/2026/06/10/sp061026-dmd-speech-the-eleventh-tokyo-fiscal-forum/index.md",
  "summary": "Opening Remarks by Deputy Managing Director Kenji Okamura at the Eleventh Tokyo Fiscal Forum",
  "publishDate": "2026-06-10",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Context and immediate risks",
      "content": "- Remarks delivered at the 11th Tokyo Fiscal Forum (June 10, 2026).\n- Global economy affected by the war in the Middle East, which is:\n  - disrupting energy markets,\n  - pushing up prices,\n  - weighing on growth.\n- Oil importers and countries with limited buffers are being hit the hardest; some countries in the region are grappling with fuel shortages.\n- 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."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Fiscal challenges and key statistics",
      "content": "- Global public debt is at a historical high, at around 94 percent of GDP.\n- Interest spending has climbed rapidly, to nearly 3 percent of GDP.\n- The room for maneuver will narrow further as countries face:\n  - higher energy and food prices,\n  - rising defense spending,\n  - mounting interest bills.\n- Policymakers face difficult trade-offs between short-term support and medium-term fiscal sustainability."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Findings and policy implications",
      "content": "- Governments must balance:\n  - protecting the most vulnerable, with\n  - preserving market price signals.\n- Once the condition stabilizes, governments must rebuild buffers in an environment of increased spending pressures.\n- The key challenge: rebuild buffers and preserve fiscal sustainability in a way that doesn’t create new vulnerabilities.\n- Research highlights opportunities to improve the quality and efficiency of spending, including by avoiding broad-based subsidies that are costly and regressive."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Forum themes and recommended actions",
      "content": "- 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.\n  - Focus areas: improve quality and efficiency of spending; avoid broad-based, costly, regressive subsidies.\n- Theme 2 (GovTech): how stronger public financial management and revenue administration can help countries do more with limited resources by:\n  - improving compliance,\n  - strengthening spending controls,\n  - enhancing transparency (critical for building public support for difficult policy choices).\n- Interest in peer learning: the forum aims to surface how countries are applying latest technologies in innovative ways."
    },
    {
      "heading": "IMF support and collaboration",
      "content": "- The IMF is scaling up capacity development:\n  - in collaboration with development banks,\n  - through the Global Public Finance Partnership—to which Japan and Korea are generous contributors from the region.\n- The IMF invites suggestions on how to enhance its support and strengthen the forum and other peer-learning platforms."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Closing",
      "content": "- The speaker looks forward to productive and insightful discussions at the forum.\n\nOpening Remarks by Deputy Managing Director Kenji Okamura at the Eleventh Tokyo Fiscal Forum, June 10, 2026.\n\n---\n\n\n References\n\n- Kenji Okamura\n- Speeches\n- PRESS CENTER\n- https://www.imf.org/en/home\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2026/06/10/sp061026-dmd-speech-the-eleventh-tokyo-fiscal-forum"
    }
  ],
  "bullets": [
    "[Markdown version](/en/news/articles/2026/06/10/sp061026-dmd-speech-the-eleventh-tokyo-fiscal-forum/index.md)",
    "[Structured JSON version](/en/news/articles/2026/06/10/sp061026-dmd-speech-the-eleventh-tokyo-fiscal-forum/index.json)",
    "[Bundle manifest](/en/news/articles/2026/06/10/sp061026-dmd-speech-the-eleventh-tokyo-fiscal-forum/bundle-manifest.json)",
    "Published: June 10, 2026",
    "Remarks delivered at the 11th Tokyo Fiscal Forum (June 10, 2026).",
    "Global economy affected by the war in the Middle East, which is:",
    "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:",
    "Policymakers face difficult trade-offs between short-term support and medium-term fiscal sustainability.",
    "Governments must balance:",
    "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.",
    "Theme 2 (GovTech): how stronger public financial management and revenue administration can help countries do more with limited resources by:",
    "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:",
    "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.",
    "[Kenji Okamura](https://www.imf.org/en/About/senior-officials/Bios/kenji-okamura)",
    "[Speeches](https://www.imf.org/en/news/searchnews)",
    "[PRESS CENTER](http://presscenter.imf.org/)",
    "[https://www.imf.org/en/home](https://www.imf.org/en/home)"
  ],
  "alternates": {
    "markdown": "/en/news/articles/2026/06/10/sp061026-dmd-speech-the-eleventh-tokyo-fiscal-forum/index.md",
    "json": "/en/news/articles/2026/06/10/sp061026-dmd-speech-the-eleventh-tokyo-fiscal-forum/index.json",
    "bundleManifest": "/en/news/articles/2026/06/10/sp061026-dmd-speech-the-eleventh-tokyo-fiscal-forum/bundle-manifest.json"
  },
  "generatedAtUtc": "2026-09-26T04:43:53.320Z"
}