Chipping Away at the Public Debt—Sources of Failure and
Keys to Success in Fiscal Adjustment: This soon-to-be-published FAD book (July 2011, by Wiley) looks at
past fiscal adjustment plans and outcomes in advanced economies, and at why
objectives were met in some cases but missed in others. It reveals pitfalls
and lessons in securing a successful fiscal adjustment.
Tax Biases Toward Debt Finance: Assessing the Problem, Finding
Solutions: Concern about tax
distortions in firm financial leverage ratios have grown in the aftermath of
the crisis. This IMF Staff Discussion Note will offer up-to-date insight in
the importance of the economic costs and propose reforms to address them.
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Fiscal Monitor: Shifting Gears—Tackling Challenges on the Road to
Fiscal Adjustment
The April 2011 issue of the IMF’s Fiscal Monitor highlights
that many advanced countries, with the important exception of the United
States and Japan, have taken important measures toward fiscal
consolidation, but fiscal sustainability risks remain elevated in most
advanced economies, with rising debt ratios and financing needs at
historical highs. The fiscal outlook for emerging economies is more
favorable, but this reflects in part the tail winds of high asset and
commodity prices, low interest rates, and strong capital inflows. Low-income
countries will have to balance spending priorities—in the context of
higher food and energy prices—with fiscal sustainability.
Revenue Mobilization and
Development Conferences (Washington, D.C. and Nairobi)
More than 200 participants from 90 countries
gathered in Washington, D.C. (April 17-19) at the IMF
conference on Revenue Mobilization and Development, which was
opened by IMF Managing Director, Mr. Strauss-Khan. This addressed the key
challenge that developing countries face in not just raising more revenue,
but doing so in ways that are more efficient, fairer, and better promote
good governance. Participants comprised ministers of finance, tax
commissioners, senior tax policy officials, CSOs, donors, academics, and
representatives of international organizations. This followed an earlier
IMF conference on Revenue Mobilization in sub-Saharan Africa
in Nairobi on March 21-22, hosted by the Kenyan government and with the
participation of senior tax officials from all sub-Saharan countries. These
major conferences marked the launch of two trust funds to support Fund's
technical assistance on taxation. The policy dialogue responds to the G20's recent request to international organizations
in the area of domestic resource mobilization. Both conferences
drew on the recent FAD Board paper on the subject.
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FAD
In The News
The April issue of
the Fiscal Monitor was widely
covered by news agencies and media, including among others Dow Jones,
Bloomberg, Xinhua, BBC, AFP, AGI, Reuters, Globe and Mail, El Pais, ABC
(Spain), EFE, ANSA, Le Figaro, Le Parisien, and Financial Times.
Carlo Cottarelli’s blog The Long and the Short of It—Government
Debt Plans in 2011 and Beyond, was echoed by other blogs and
on-line services: Huffington Post, Roubini’s Global Economics, The Economic Populist, Finance Blog, Bullfax, Hedgehogs, The Forex Blog, Lockwood, Talk Finance, and Profit.
Bloomberg and Reuters broadcast interviews with
Carlo Cottarelli on analyses contained in the Fiscal Monitor and U.S.
fiscal policy.
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Fiscal Forum

The Second Fiscal Forum took place on April
14 at IMF headquarters in Washington, D.C. The forum discussed fiscal
adjustment and risks and was opened by IMF Managing Director Mr. Dominique
Strauss-Kahn. The focus was on the urgent need for fiscal consolidation in
key advanced economies, socially-inclusive adjustment, structural and
institutional reforms to strengthen fiscal frameworks, and fiscal risks.
Professor Larry Summers (Harvard and former US Treasury secretary)
delivered the keynote speech and the event concluded with a lively panel discussion, moderated by Ms. Zanny
Minton Beddoes (The Economist). The panel included Jaime Caruana (BIS),
Carlo Cottarelli (FAD Director), Kemal Dervis (Brookings), Doug Elmendorf
(US CBO), and Simon Johnson (MIT). The Panel emphasized the risks posed by
mounting debt levels in advanced countries, policy pressures arising from
an asymmetric global recovery, and as-yet unresolved fiscal risks from
large, undercapitalized financial institutions.
Asian
Regional Seminar: Promoting Fiscal Sustainability by Improving Public
Spending
Workshop
on Tax-Induced Debt Bias
What does the financial crisis teach us
about tax-induced debt bias? And what is the best policy response to it? On
March 4, 2011 FAD organized an expert workshop in Washington, D.C. on these
issues. FAD Director Carlo Cottarelli delivered the opening address and
experts from Europe and the United States with backgrounds in public
finance, tax law, and corporate finance presented their recent work and
discussed preliminary FAD research. The views and discussions offered input
for an IMF Working Paper and a forthcoming Staff
Discussion Note.
The
2nd Annual Regional Seminar of the Latin American Treasurers
The Seminar was organized jointly by the
IMF, World Bank and IDB and it was held in Mexico City during March 16-18,
2011. The seminar discussed active debt management; operational risk
management and business continuity planning; the relationship between the
Treasury, the Central Bank, and commercial banks; and the remuneration of
transaction services and government balances at the Treasury Single
Account. During the seminar the treasurers created a permanent Forum and
elected their first president, Mrs. Cantellano, head of the Mexican
Treasury. Colombia was selected as the venue for the next seminar.
Policy
Paper on Health Care Reform
The policy paper Macro-Fiscal Implications of Health Care Reform in
Advanced and Emerging Economies analyzes developments in public
health spending over the past 40 years and provides projections for 50
advanced and emerging countries over 2011–50. The paper discusses the
effects of specific health reforms on public health spending in advanced
economies and examines the challenges facing emerging economies as they
seek to expand coverage of health care in a fiscally sustainable manner
Staff Discussion Note
Technical
Notes and Manuals
Technical Assistance Activities
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Career Opportunities
FAD seeks talented and dedicated
professionals with a background in different areas of public finance, to
work on macro-fiscal policy issues and to provide technical assistance
advice to IMF member countries on public financial management, tax policy
reform, revenue administration, and different expenditure policy issues.
Vacancies in FAD for staff and long-term expert positions are posted on http://www.imf.org/jobs.
FAD also seeks experts who are interested in occasional short-term
(2–3 week) assignments; interested candidates may send their CVs to FADexperts@imf.org
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