BY Desmond Okon
From rising inflation and monetary policy issues to growing concerns over the implications of China’s excess manufacturing capacity, global economies are grappling with several challenges — worsened by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and tension in the Middle East.
These issues will form part of the conversations at the 2024 annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group (WBG).
For one week, policymakers, international organisations, and the private sector — led by the Bretton Woods institutions — will take decisive and coordinated actions to build resilience in the face of surging inflation, food and energy crises, global wars, and worsening poverty.
TheCable’s Desmond Okon is in Washington DC to provide updates on the decisions reached by global leaders and how they will shape Nigeria’s economy.
This year’s spring meetings will open with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 20121 certification event with Kristalina Georgieva, IMF managing director.
The Bretton Woods institution is said to have achieved the ISO 20121 certification for sustainable events for the spring and annual meetings that are held on its Washington campus.
The ISO 20121 is the internationally recognised standard that examines the sustainability aspects of events, covering environmental, social, and economic issues. It also requires organisers to show how they consider sustainable development issues when choosing suppliers and vendors.
The event will be followed by a networking reception.
A session will also be held on the return of industrial policy to introduce the audience to a new dataset on the subject and recent research on its impacts. The conversation will also assess government actions on industrial policy.
Later in the day, the first panel session on improving the resilience of funding markets will take place. The one-hour discussion will explore the issues that contribute to a lack of liquidity and the potential policy solutions to improve market resilience.
The day will close with two panel discussions on the rising significance of private funds, and interactions between central banks and securities market regulators.
There will be a briefing on the World Economic Outlook which will highlight IMF’s projections for global economies — including Nigeria.
A press briefing on the Global Financial Stability Report will also take place on Tuesday. Parts of the report border on cyber risks and macro-financial stability as well as vulnerabilities and potential risks to financial stability in private credit.
Global leaders will hold capacity development talks focusing on Somalia’s fiscal journey to debt relief and energy subsidy reforms.
In addition to a press briefing by the G-24, the Bretton Woods committee will sit in commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the institutions to consider how best to evolve to confront current challenges – the climate crisis, widespread debt distress, conflict and fragility, among other cross-border issues.
The meetings will usher in the unveiling of the IMF’s Fiscal Monitor Report, which is expected to provide insight into the latest public finance developments, updates to the medium-term fiscal outlook, and will also assess fiscal implications of policies relevant to the global economy.
Nigeria’s Folake Soetan, CEO of Ikeja Electric, will join Ajay Banga, president of the World Bank Group, for talks on energising Africa to explore what it would take to achieve universal energy access.
A G-20 event covering new challenges in international taxation will also be held. Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), will join Abebe Aemro Selassie, IMF’s director, African department, to discuss Nigeria’s foreign exchange (FX) market reforms.
The IMF MD will brief the press on the global policy agenda while Banga and Muhammad Ali Pate, Nigeria’s minister of health, will speak on the theme, ‘Transforming Challenge into Action: Expanding Health Coverage for All’.
There will also be a G-20 press briefing which will segue into a debate on the global economy moderated by Richard Quest, the CNN anchor.
The IMF African department, led by Abebe Aemro Selassie, will hold a press conference on developments in the lenders’ division.
Another press conference will be held by the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) where Georgieva and Mohammed Aljadaan, the committee’s chair, will address journalists on the advisory responsibilities of the panel.
In addition, there will be a civil society policy forum bordering on several issues; including youth engagement for the global financing facility in 2024, equity, access, accountability, financing just transition, and feminist perspectives on innovative climate finance instruments.
The forum will cover other topics such as the impact of IFC investments in education and rebalancing public finance for justice and equity, among others. There will also be a seminar on capital flows and growth.
The finance ministers of Chile and Indonesia will participate in a fiscal forum hosted by the IMF fiscal affairs department.
The event will highlight ways to leverage fiscal rules and systems to wade through fiscal challenges.
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