The Unassuming Economist

From CNBC Africa:

“African resource-intensive countries need deep reforms and face an urgent need to diversify away from the resource sector for more durable and inclusive growth. That’s according to the IMF Sub-Saharan regional economic outlook, which highlights the need to ensure that their current macroeconomic policy mix is appropriate, while removing any key policy distortions that may be holding back business confidence and investment. The Bretton Woods institution also notes by 2030, half of the world’s new workers will be from sub-Saharan Africa. Catherine Pattillo, Deputy Director, African Division at the IMF joins CNBC Africa for more.”

From C40 cities:

“With nearly 16 million green jobs worldwide, mega-cities are key to driving inclusive growth and breaking with past economic inequalities. This demands people-centred policies at all levels, open dialogue with workers and unions, investment in social protections, and funding for a locally-led just transition.

Inequality is rising fastest in cities and mayors are taking action—delivering jobs, closing skills gaps, and cutting emissions through local Green New Deal projects. Yet, more investment is essential to accelerate progress. 

At U20 and COP29, mayors are urging national governments to boost urban climate finance, dedicate at least 40% of climate funds to local projects supporting low-income communities, workers, and vulnerable groups, and deepen collaboration with subnational leaders on policy design and implementation through initiatives like CHAMP.

C40 Cities’ resources show how cities can partner with governments, unions, businesses, youth, and communities to create good, green jobs for all.”

From andina:

“The President of the Republic Dina Boluarte on Thursday reaffirmed Peru’s commitment to fostering sustainable, inclusive, and robust economic growth during the Women’s Empowerment Forum held as part of APEC Peru 2024 currently underway in Lima.

Mrs. Boluarte emphasized that, with women making up half of the population in the region, empowering and including them is vital for driving economic growth.

Likewise, the top official highlighted the importance of engaging in ongoing dialogue with the private sector to identify more and better opportunities for women’s economic empowerment.

The president noted that, under Peru’s leadership of APEC this year, significant progress has been made toward building consensus on a comprehensive agenda focused on empowering vulnerable sectors, particularly women.

The Head of State underscored that these agreements will translate into “tangible actions that the member economies will implement starting next year.”

“Today, we renew our commitment to solid, secure, sustainable, and inclusive growth, placing citizens —especially those who have yet to reach their full potential— at the heart of our efforts,” she stated.”

Continue reading here.

From a paper by Adnan Mazarei and Prakash Loungani:

“Coverage. This paper assesses the IMF’s engagement with countries in the Middle East and
Central Asian Department (MCD) from February 2020 to April 2021, drawing on the experience of
Kyrgyz Republic, Morocco, Tunisia, and Uzbekistan. The paper also briefly describes MCD’s policy
advice over the course of the pandemic and the department’s strategy for helping the region.

Appropriate pivot in surveillance. While staff’s initial worries about the region were centered
around the sharp spike in global risk aversion—portfolio flows to the region declined by nearly
$2 billion in February–March—they quickly pivoted to healthcare and humanitarian
considerations. The April 2020 Regional Economic Outlook (REO) emphasized the immediate
priority of containing the spread of the virus and advocated fiscal easing to accommodate
necessary spending.

Rapid and effective financing. By June 2020, 15 countries in the region had received
emergency or upper credit tranche (UCT) financing from the Fund, and the Fund’s financing
exposure to the region increased by more than 65 percent in 2020. Our case studies of
Kyrgyz Republic, Tunisia, and Uzbekistan paint a positive picture overall of the value to countries
of the rapid provision of Fund emergency financing (EF). The first two received the maximum
permitted under Fund access limits despite some concerns about policies.”

Continue reading here.

From the World Bank:

“The report outlines an agenda to strengthen information and communication technology(ICT) services in Rwanda, where network coverage has improved but broadband uptake remains low. Rwanda needs to boost digital service use among consumers and the private sector by increasing access to affordable smart devices, expanding digital skills initiatives, and improving broadband quality and affordability through network upgrades, densification, and stricter competition enforcement. Key regulatory measures include a reference interconnection over (RIO), better spectrum management for next-gen technologies like 5G, and infrastructure sharing to lower service costs. While recent laws on personal data protection and cybersecurity have created a solid regulatory foundation, their implementation is still in progress. To achieve global standards, Rwanda must enhance regulations related to nonpersonal data portability and net neutrality, as current rules restrict cross-border data flows vitalfor digital market integration and e-commerce. This effort should be supported by regional andglobal collaboration on regulatory harmonization. Further public investment is needed to develop foundational digital public infrastructure, such as identifcation, trusted data sharing, and digital payments systems, to scale digital services safely and affordably. Additionally, improvements in the enabling framework and skills development are crucial for wider adoption of technologies like artificial intelligence (AI).”