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Central Bank Digital Currency and Other Digital Payments in Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 91

Central Bank Digital Currency and Other Digital Payments in Sub-Saharan Africa

This Fintech Note reports key findings from the Sub-Saharan Africa Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and Digital Payments Survey, shedding light on the motivations, benefits, and challenges of CBDC adoption, as well as the developments of digital private money and crypto assets in sub-Saharan Africa. It emphasizes the pivotal role of collaboration and shared knowledge in navigating the intricate landscape of digital currencies and assets in sub-Saharan Africa. As this evolving digital frontier is explored, the experiences and aspirations of the region’s central banks, as expressed in the survey, will help harness the potential for digital currencies, assets, and payments, and foster cooperation among countries in sub-Saharan Africa. A forthcoming IMF Departmental Paper will focus on key issues for countries in sub-Saharan Africa pertaining to CBDCs, private digital payments, and crypto assets. It will provide a deeper discussion of the benefits, costs, and risks of these digital payment systems and present policy options to enhance financial digital development and inclusion, while safeguarding macroeconomic and financial stability.

Industrial Policy for Growth and Diversification: A Conceptual Framework
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 31

Industrial Policy for Growth and Diversification: A Conceptual Framework

As countries strive for a strong recovery and to recoup the losses incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, they need to map out a new path for development and high and sustained growth. Promoting diversification, developing new industrial capabilities, and designing the policies needed to achieve this goal should be a priority. A successful diversification strategy should tackle both broad policy failures, such as an unfavorable business environment and investment climate and sector-specific market failures. This departmental paper presents a conceptual framework to analyze industrial policy, defined as targeted sectoral interventions. The authors first discuss the key principles that should guide policymakers, that is, a focus on the market failures that could justify targeted sectoral interventions, as well as the potential government failures that can undermine these interventions. The authors then discuss some commonly employed policy tools, their rationale, and the associated pitfalls. Finally, the authors outline a stylized decision-making framework.

Growth at Risk from Natural Disasters
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 25

Growth at Risk from Natural Disasters

The paper analyzes the impact of natural disasters on per-capita GDP growth. Using a quantile regressions and growth-at-risk approach, the paper examines the impact of disasters and policy choices on the distribution of growth rather than simply its average. We find that countries that have in place disaster preparedness mechanisms and lower public debt have lower probability of witnessing a significant drop in growth as a consequence of a natural disaster, but our innovative methodology in this paper finds that the two policies are complements since their effectiveness vary across different disaster scenarios. While both are helpful for small to mid-size disasters, lower debt—and hence more fiscal space—is more beneficial in the face of very large disasters. A balanced strategy would thus involve both policies.

Topical Issues in International Development and Economics
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 591

Topical Issues in International Development and Economics

This book offers various insights on current hot topics in development economics. The authors address the questions of gender effects, leapfrogging, the factors determining the production frontiers of countries, and the respective roles of financial, monetary and fiscal policies in fostering the development of countries. They also question one of the strategies utilized by policy makers in poor countries: development through trade and financial globalization. They ask whether education has really been a factor in development, and look at the role of those who return to the country after studying abroad. This book is the result of a collaboration between researchers from Asia, Africa and Europe. It will be useful to economists and non-economists working in academia (including postgraduate students), as well as professionals working in development institutions and public institutions responsible for strategic planning in developing and emerging countries.

High Performance Export Portfolio: Design Growth-Enhancing Export Structure with Machine Learning
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 52

High Performance Export Portfolio: Design Growth-Enhancing Export Structure with Machine Learning

This paper studies the relationship between export structure and growth performance. We design an export recommendation system using a collaborative filtering algorithm based on countries' revealed comparative advantages. The system is used to produce export portfolio recommendations covering over 190 economies and over 30 years. We find that economies with their export structure more aligned with the recommended export structure achieve better growth performance, in terms of both higher GDP growth rate and lower growth volatility. These findings demonstrate that export structure matters for obtaining high and stable growth. Our recommendation system can serve as a practical tool for policymakers seeking actionable insights on their countries’ export potential and diversification strategies that may be complex and hard to quantify.

Understanding Export Diversification: Key Drivers and Policy Implications
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 29

Understanding Export Diversification: Key Drivers and Policy Implications

We identify key factors, from large set of potential determinants, that explain the variation in export diversification across countries and over time using Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA), which addresses model uncertainty and ranks factors in order of importance vis-a-vis their explanatory power. Our analysis suggests, in order to diversify, policy makers should prioritize human capital accumulation and reduce barriers to trade. Other policy areas include improving quality of institutions and developing the financial sector. For commodity exporters reducing barriers to trade is the most important driver of diversification, followed by improving education outcomes at the secondary level and financial sector development.

Uruguay: Selected Issues
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 51

Uruguay: Selected Issues

Selected Issues

Learning to Live with Cheaper Oil
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 52

Learning to Live with Cheaper Oil

This paper discusses the challenges posed by low oil prices in the MENA and CCA regions, the adjustment policies adopted so far, and remaining adjustment needs and future risks.

Effect of Exchange Rate Movements on Inflation in Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 36

Effect of Exchange Rate Movements on Inflation in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper provides new evidence on the exchange rate passthrough to domestic inflation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) using both bilateral US dollar exchange rate and the nominal effective exchange rate (NEER), and monthly data. We find that depreciations cause sizable increases in domestic inflation. The passthrough in SSA is higher than in other regions and its magnitude depends on the exchange rate regime, type of exchange rate (bilateral versus NEER), natural resource endowment and domestic market competitiveness. The passthrough is found to be disproportionately larger and more persistent for large depreciation shocks, and for exchange rate changes that are more persistent. We also find evidence of asymmetry, with passthrough eight times stronger during depreciations than appreciations. Additional findings suggest that improved monetary policy effectiveness is an important driver of our observed declining estimates of exchange rate passthrough over time, supporting the long-standing view that strengthening monetary policy frameworks and credibility helps mitigate the impact of depreciations on inflation.

Economic Diversification in Developing Countries
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 52

Economic Diversification in Developing Countries

This paper examines the significance and impact of broad-based and industrial policies on economic diversification in developing economies, supported by a literature review, case studies, and IMF analyses. Economic diversification entails shifting from traditional sectors, like agriculture and mining, to a variety of high-quality services and sectors. This transition is crucial for adapting to global market fluctuations and promoting sustainable growth and improved living standards. A literature review, including many IMF contributions, reveals a strong correlation between economic diversification and improved macroeconomic performance in developing countries, such as faster economic growth ...