Source: International Monetary Fund – IMF (video statements)
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva delivers a speech on the global economic outlook and policy priorities ahead of the 2026 IMF–World Bank Spring Meetings, followed by a conversation moderated by Michael Froman, President of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Source: International Monetary Fund – IMF (video statements)
A resilient global economy is being tested again by the war in the Middle East. The shock is large, global, and asymmetric: energy flows have been disrupted, prices have risen sharply, and supply chains are under strain, with the heaviest burden falling on vulnerable, energy-importing countries.
Policy choices now will shape the outcome. Rejecting go-it-alone actions, keeping fiscal support targeted and temporary, preventing inflation expectations from breaking anchor, and rebuilding fiscal space will be critical to weathering this shock and strengthening resilience.
Watch IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva’s 2026 Spring Meetings Curtain Raiser speech. https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2026/04/09/sp040926-spring-meetings-2026-curtain-raiser
Source: International Monetary Fund – IMF (video statements)
Europe’s growth model is under strain. Productivity gains have slowed, investment remains uneven, and a more fragile geopolitical environment—intensified by ongoing wars, including in the Middle East—is adding new pressures through energy markets, inflation risks, and heightened uncertainty.
At the same time, Europe faces a broader policy challenge: how to strengthen economic security, reduce vulnerabilities, and finance new priorities—from the green and digital transitions to defense—without undermining fiscal sustainability.
Delivering on Europe’s growth agenda will require more than diagnosis. It will depend on concrete progress in boosting productivity, mobilizing investment, deepening integration, and translating policy ambitions into implementation.
In this fireside chat, Alfred Kammer and Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis will discuss how Europe can turn today’s challenges into lasting gains—by advancing reforms that reinforce productivity, enhance resilience, and support sustainable growth in a more uncertain world.
Source: International Monetary Fund – IMF (video statements)
Effective communication is a cornerstone of policymaking. The role of monetary policy communications has long been recognized as one of the key tools in anchoring inflation expectations. By now, communication has become a necessary element of good policymaking overall—it ensures the understanding of objectives, intended consequences, and the impact on countries, their economies, and citizens. That’s why the IMF, with financial support from Japan, has developed a Macroeconomic Policy Communication (MPC) course, marking a significant milestone in our training curriculum: for the first time, macroeconomic policy communication is being offered as a self-contained and comprehensive course. This course was also the first one intentionally designed in a blended format. It was developed to meet the demands of country authorities, particularly from low-income and fragile states, for tailored communication training that equips them with skills to convey complex macroeconomic concepts clearly and effectively. Join this session, where we will showcase how the MPC course is empowering effective policymaking in our member countries, and why it matters.
Source: International Monetary Fund – IMF (video statements)
Transforming Ethiopia’s economic model towards private sector-led development required building a financial sector in which market forces, rather than administrative directives, play a greater role. The IMF supported the authorities in designing reforms that lay the groundwork for deeper progress. Through capacity development work, we helped define a clear plan to relaunch the domestic debt market by establishing a credible instrument, denominated in birr, Ethiopian currency, and moving away from past administrative practices, with the aim of restoring bank demand and gradually broadening the investor base. In parallel, capacity development efforts supported the FX and monetary policy reform agenda. These included the revision of FX regulations, introduction of market-based foreign exchange operations through auctions and a new monetary policy framework, improvements in liquidity forecasting, an assessment of National Bank of Ethiopia’s balance-sheet, and the establishment of a collateral framework. Capacity development in areas such as banking regulation, supervision, and crisis management tools and close coordination with the World Bank who supported governance and state-owned bank reforms has also been critical.
Source: International Monetary Fund – IMF (video statements)
For decades, the International Monetary Fund has been providing capacity development support to its member countries, including institution-building in fragile and conflict-affected states. Though not always straightforward and sometimes affected by security considerations, this support is critical for countries that try to regain a grip of their economies, revive growth and create jobs, and strengthen public finances and public service delivery. One such country is Syria: following a 14-year hiatus, the Syrian authorities requested the IMF’s support to rebuild capacity at the Ministry of Finance and strengthen government finances. IMF staff from the Fiscal Affairs Department, supported by the IMF’s Global Public Finance Partnership, together with staff of the Middle East and Central Asia Department and the Middle East Technical Assistance Center (METAC), responded promptly, working closely with the authorities on the ground in Syria—also for the first time in over a decade. Initial support focused on two main pillars—revenues and spending—and included preparation of the 2026 budget, supporting cash management to address competing payment priorities, reviewing a new budget law and new tax laws, including tailored workshops on tax design, and evaluating policy options for the oil and gas sector. Complementing the other two key areas of the IMF’s support to our members—surveillance and lending—the capacity development work in Syria and other fragile and conflict-affected states aims at overcoming the challenges inherent to countries emerging from conflict and at enhancing their prosperity.
Source: International Monetary Fund – IMF (video statements)
IMF economists Andresa Lagerborg and Hippolyte Balima join Moritz Schularick president of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, to discuss the macroeconomic effects and policy tradeoffs associated with higher defense spending, as well as the macroeconomics of conflicts and recovery.
https://www.imf.org/en/publications/weo/issues/2026/04/14/world-economic-outlook-april-2026?cid=sm-com-yt-sm26-WEOEA2026001
Source: International Monetary Fund – IMF (video statements)
Source: International Monetary Fund – IMF (video statements)
Source: International Monetary Fund – IMF (video statements)
The Governor Talks series provides a forum for Central Bank Governors and Finance Ministers to share their regional or national perspective on range of global issues. https://www.imfconnect.org/content/imf/en/annual-meetings/calendar/open/2026/04/14/207098.html
