IMF Conference

 CALL FOR PAPERS

The International Monetary Fund and the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University are pleased to announce that the 2026 IMF MENA Research Conference will take place at the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University campus in Rabat, Morocco on June 29-30, 2026.

Global trade and financial systems are being reshaped by tariff shocks, geoeconomic fragmentation, and the adoption of digitalization and AI. For the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, these changes present both risks and opportunities to deepen trade and financial integration, strengthen resilience, and accelerate economic diversification and long-term growth.

The conference will bring together academics and policy makers to explore how the region can respond to external shocks through macroeconomic and financial policies; harness digitalization and AI to boost productivity and regional connectivity; and mobilize energy and infrastructure investment to support growth.

The Program Committee welcomes empirical and theoretical work focusing on the MENA region or contributions with a global or emerging market and developing economies perspective that have implications for the MENA region.

Relevant topics include:

• Trade and financial integration: Impacts of tariff shocks, trade fragmentation, and geoeconomic shifts on regional value chains, and the role of investment in infrastructure to improve connectivity and foster deeper trade and financial linkages within MENA.
• Macroeconomic policy responses: Monetary, fiscal, structural and financial policies to manage external shocks—including from capital flows, exchange rate movements, and global uncertainty.
• Digitalization, AI, and innovation: The role of digital and AI adoption in enhancing productivity, trade and financial integration, its implications for labor markets, and the policy frameworks needed to attract AI-related and digital infrastructure investment.
• Energy: Investment in energy and data infrastructure to meet rising AI-driven electricity demand and support economic diversification.
• Financial development and cooperation: Risks and opportunities from fintech, changes in the international payment system, and regional financial cooperation to support a more connected MENA economy.

Submissions and logistics:

A selection of the papers presented at the conference will be published in a special issue of Emerging Markets Review. Further details will be provided closer to the conference dates.

Interested contributors should submit a full draft or extended abstract in English to MCD_MENAAcadConf@imf.org. The deadline for submissions is March 31, 2026. Please use the contact author’s name as the name of the file (LastName_FirstName, e.g., Smith_John).

The Program Committee will evaluate all proposals in terms of originality, analytical rigor, and policy relevance for the MENA region and will contact the authors whose papers have been selected by April 30, 2026. Preference will be given to submissions of full drafts.

Travel and accommodation expenses will be covered by the conference, with guidelines to be provided to presenters closer to the conference dates.

Further information on the conference program will be posted on the IMF website and Mohammed VI Polytechnic University website. 

Conference Program Committee:

Giovanni Melina (IMF)
Antonio Spilimbergo (IMF)
Abdelkhalek Touhami (Mohammed VI Polytechnic University)
Francesco Grigoli (Georgetown University in Qatar)
Kamiar Mohaddes (University of Cambridge)
Nisreen Salti (American University of Beirut)