iMFdirect's profile - MoneyScience

Brief description: iMFdirect is a weblog covering the global economy and policy issues, posted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquartered in Washington D.C., United States.

Publication URL: http://blog-imfdirect.imf.org/

RSS Feed: http://blog-imfdirect.imf.org/feed/

Joined: August 31st, 2011

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Activity

iMFdirect wrote a new blog post titled India’s Slowdown May Have a Silver Lining

By Roberto Guimarães and Laura Papi The extent of the recent slowdown in India’s growth rate has surprised most India watchers even in the face of ongoing international financial market volatility, high and volatile oil prices, and the uneven global recovery. GDP growth fell throughout 2011, from a high of 7.8 percent at the beginning of the year to 6.1 percent in the quarter ending in December. The slowdown in the economy has affected the industrial sector particularly hard and has extended to 2012 as shown by the 3.5 percent contraction (y/y) in March industrial production. For 2012/13, we...

(2 days ago)

iMFdirect wrote a new blog post titled Without Better Data, Middle East Policymakers Risk Getting Lost

By Nemat Shafik (Version in عربي) Recently I went orienteering with my children as part of a school trip. Orienteering is a sport whereby you have to find your way to various checkpoints through unknown terrain with only a compass and a topographical map. Wandering through the woods with six 9-year-olds was a good lesson in the value of good directions and data to find your way when you are in unchartered territory. Likewise, making policy decisions without adequate and timely data would also result in getting lost, wasting time and money, and making policy mistakes with obvious negative...

(3 days ago)

iMFdirect wrote a new blog post titled Beyond the Austerity Debate: the Deficit Bias in the post-Bretton Woods Era

By Carlo Cottarelli The austerity vs. growth debate has raged in recent months, pitting those who argue that fiscal policy should be tightened more aggressively now to bring down high levels of debt, even though economic growth remains weak, against those who want to postpone the adjustment to better times. This is a critical issue for policymakers, perhaps the most important one in the short run. And yet, this debate—which, mea culpa, I have myself contributed to―is attracting too much attention. This is bad for two reasons: The debate is driven, to some degree, by ideology and is therefore...

(5 days ago)

About:

iMFdirect is a weblog covering the global economy and policy issues, posted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquartered in Washington D.C., United States. iMFdirect posts content related to the IMF’s work in economics and finance at global or national level, and posts currently highlight the debate over policy responses to the biggest global recession since the Great Depression.

The IMF is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.

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