To help resolve conflicts, the rules-based multilateral trading system should be strengthened and modernized to encompass areas such as digital services, subsidies, and technology transfer.

Gita Gopinath

Categorized in : Help System Technology Digital

The biggest losers from international trade are always those whose skills have a cheaper competitor in a different market.

always trade different skills

Fiscal policy should balance growth, equity, and sustainability concerns, including protecting society's most vulnerable.

sustainability balance growth society

Rather than waiting for a crisis to erupt before intervening, the IMF should provide 'forward guidance' on how it will tackle potential disruptions in international financial markets.

potential will how waiting

By promising to intervene in vulnerable markets in the event of excessive financial volatility, the IMF, as the largest player, would reduce coordination problems among investors.

event problems coordination financial

Emerging market and developing economies have benefited from monetary easing in major economies but have also faced volatile risk sentiment tied to trade tensions.

market also trade risk

Countries with fiscal space should invest in physical and social infrastructure to raise potential growth.

potential infrastructure growth space

An intensification of trade or geopolitical tensions - with negative repercussions for global growth and risk appetite - could affect economies that are highly dependent on foreign demand or external financing.

trade risk growth negative

Having a proper understanding of countries' external positions - current accounts, stock positions, and currencies - is critical to highlight policymakers' shared responsibility to tackle external imbalances before they become too risky.

become understanding responsibility

Across all economies, the imperative is to take actions that boost potential output, improve inclusiveness, and strengthen resilience.

potential actions take resilience

Fiscal policy will need to manage trade-offs between supporting demand, protecting social spending, and ensuring that public debt remains on a sustainable path, with the optimal mix depending on country-specific circumstances.

need will circumstances path

Monetary policy should remain data dependent, be well communicated, and ensure that inflation expectations remain anchored.

well inflation data expectations

There is a need for greater multilateral cooperation to resolve trade conflicts, to address climate change and risks from cybersecurity, and to improve the effectiveness of international taxation.

risks need climate-change change

Where fiscal space is low, fiscal policy needs to adjust in a growth-friendly manner to ensure public debt is on a sustainable path, while protecting the most vulnerable.

low debt space path

If a debt crisis results from government profligacy and mismanagement, rather than from a market failure, it is true that the central bank should not intervene.

true debt failure government

Opponents of central-bank intervention are right about one thing: monetary financing carries serious risks. In order to ensure that it is as safe and effective as possible, it must be used primarily in the event of self-fulfilling debt crises.

possible risks debt serious

Portfolio investment, often called 'hot money' because of its volatile nature, can increase the economy's vulnerability to the vagaries of international finance. Foreign direct investment, on the other hand, is far more stable and driven by domestic fundamentals.

finance money nature hot

In reality, while currency movements can have a significant impact on inflation in other countries, dollar movements have rarely had a meaningful or durable impact on prices in the U.S.

dollar inflation impact reality

The advantages of globalization are actually much like the advantages of technological improvement. They have very similar effects: they raise output in countries, raise productivity, create more jobs, raise wages, and lower prices of products in the world economy.

like globalization improvement world

Fiscal policy is a very important part of the tool kit for policy makers.

very part policy important

There are limits to how much countries can spend.

spend much how limits