Prospects for Central Asia in 2016

Subject Prospects for Central Asia in 2016. Significance In October, both the World Bank and the IMF downgraded Central Asia's economic growth outlook for 2016. The previous month, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan had signalled the rising influence of extremist organisations, first and foremost the Islamic State group (ISG) across the region. Central Asian regimes are faced with a multitude of risks, including political destabilisation.

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 987-1011
Author(s):  
Norman Mugarura

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to articulate the mandate of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) not least in promoting a sound legal regulatory environment for markets to operate globally and its inherent challenges. While acknowledging the plausible work done by the IMF in supporting countries to achieve their macro-economic stability, the paper articulates some of its shortcomings as a global institution. It is evident that the post-war climate in which the World Bank and IMF were created has drastically changed – which presupposes that these institutions now need to reposition themselves to reflect on contemporary global challenges accordingly. The author has argued in the past that a robust regulatory system should be devised taking into account the dynamic challenges in the market environment but also to prevent them from happening again. Design/methodology/approach The paper has utilized empirical evidence to evaluate the mandate of the IMF in addressing its dynamic challenges such as the global financial and debt crises in Europe and the USA and prevention of financial sector abuse globally. The IMF is one of the Bretton Woods Institutions charged with the oversight responsibility to enforce policies and enable countries to manage their macro-economic challenges efficiently. Findings The findings demonstrate that the IMF is as relevant and important as it was when it was created in 1945. However, there is a need for intrinsic and structural changes within this institution to continue discharging its mandate in a changed global regulatory landscape. The IMF is still crucial in fostering a fundamental stabilization function to fragile global economies in areas of financial and technical assistance, and developing requisite legal and supervisory infrastructure within fledging member countries. Research limitations/implications The paper was written by analysis of both theoretical and empirical data largely based on secondary data sources. It would have been better to first present the findings in an international conference to solicit wide views and internalize them accordingly. Practical implications While acknowledging the plausible work done by the IMF and its counterpart the World Bank in facilitating global financial markets regulation and prevention of financial sector abuse, as oversight institutions, they need to constantly review their mandate to respond robustly to their dynamic challenges such as the global and debt crises and financial sector abuse. Oversight institutions need to constantly review and adapt their mandate accordingly, if they are to discharge their varied responsibilities efficiently. They cannot stand still in the face of challenges because they will be superseded and kept at a back foot. Social implications Markets and states are embedded in each other, and the way they are regulated is of a significant importance to varied stakeholders and people. Originality/value This paper is one of its kind, is unique in its character and evaluates embedded issues using empirical evidence in a way not done in its context before. Secondary data sources have been evaluated to achieve a thoughtful analysis of the objectives of the paper.


Subject The October annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank devoted attention to ailing (or even failing) globalisation. Significance Global trade growth has slowed recently, and although much of this slowdown has been due to structural factors, greater protectionism has also played a part. These factors will persist and the world will gradually adjust to a 'new normal' for global trade. The IMF, along with other multilateral agencies such as the OECD, are studying rising inequality and other factors thought to be driving the protectionist trend in order to consider ways in which gains from trade can be shared more equally in coming years. Impacts Globalisation benefits have been uneven but the benefits of moving to less free trade are likely to be no more equal. Setting policy to reinvigorate trade requires not only economic incentives to be considered, but also social, regional and ethnic factors. Technology will continue to lower transportation and communication costs, putting pressure on labour markets; robotics will add to this.


2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (7) ◽  
pp. 1733-1755
Author(s):  
Waliu Olawale Shittu ◽  
Hammed Agboola Yusuf ◽  
Abdallah El Moctar El Houssein ◽  
Sallahuddin Hassan

PurposeThis paper measures the impacts of foreign direct investment (FDI), globalisation and political governance on economic growth in West Africa. The empirical analysis also includes the interaction effect of political governance and FDI on the growth of the sub-region, over the period of 1996–2016.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs the autoregressive distributed lag technique on data obtained from the World Bank and the KOF institute.FindingsThe study findings suggest a positive relationship between globalisation and political governance on economic growth. Even though there have been inconclusive results on the FDI–growth nexus, the authors found that FDI stimulates the growth of the sub-region, while political governance enhances the positive impact of FDI on economic growth. The other factors of growth included are labour, capital and government size, whose effects on growth are, respectively, negative, negative and positive.Practical implicationsThe governments of the West African countries promote policies that attract FDI into the sub-region, so that economic performances may be enhanced. In addition, the governments of the West African sub-region should work to reap the benefits of globalisation, by promoting the competitiveness of their local economies in order to keep pace with the global markets. Finally, the political-governance infrastructures should be overhauled; the culture of accountability and transparency should be promoted, while all efforts should be made to improve stability in the political environment in order to increase investors' confidence in the West African economy.Originality/valueThis study is the first to single out the impacts of political governance, as categorised by the World Bank, through both direct and interactive measures. This is necessary in view of the assertion that political governance largely accounts for improved economic performance in an economy. The use of the Pesaran (2007) technique of unit root is also a deviation from existing studies. This is in view of the fact that it tests variable unit root in the presence of cross-sectional dependence; thus, controlling for contemporaneous correlation which was not considered in the first-generation tests.


Author(s):  
Ahmet Fatih Aydemir ◽  
Ahmet Alkan Çelik

In the early 1990s, with the fall of communism and the dissolution of USSR, the so-called transition economies have emerged in Eastern Europe and the former USSR. Within this transition period from planned to market economies, fiscal and monetary discipline has not been adequately emphasized while the crucial aim of these economies is to realize price liberalization, privatization and economic stabilization. Hence, the problems of income distribution and growth have not been able to be solved. In this paper, we analyze the relations between economic growth and fiscal and monetary discipline in the economies of Central Asia and Caucasia since their independence. We use WDI-2010 data of the World Bank in order to develop a model including fiscal and monetary variables, which aims to represent the growth experiences of the aforementioned countries.


Subject Prospects for Sub-Saharan African economies in 2018. Significance Economic growth is expected to reach 3.4% in 2018 from 2.6% this year, as exogenous headwinds recede and domestic policies boost demand. However, prospects for a return to commodities-boom-era growth are remote, as the continent’s largest economies grapple with repeatedly delayed structural reforms to diversify resource-dependent economies. The World Bank expects 2019 economic growth to increase only slightly to 3.5%, partly due to efforts to correct economic imbalances.


2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 305-355
Author(s):  
Dušan Pokorný

AbstractThis chapter considers the meaning of the terms "society" and "market," and the need for markets to be institutionalized and legitimated. Obligatory norms and recommendatory guidelines today come from many sources: from states, from groupings of states, and from worldwide bodies such as the IMF, the WTO, and the World Bank. But when markets create profound inequalities both within and between societies, how do we determine what limits ought to be placed on markets? Since economic institutions are inseparable from culture, this is the "site" where the public will have to decide what is "society," what is the "market," and what will be the relation between them.


Policy Papers ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 2005 (36) ◽  
Author(s):  

This guide gives a framework that covers the resource-specific issues to be considered in a fiscal transparency assessment, for example as part of a fiscal Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSCs). Equally importantly, it provides a summary overview of generally recognized good or best practices for transparency of resource revenue management that can be used by countries themselves, as well as by the IMF, the World Bank, and others providing technical support.


1997 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 635-643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ibrahim F. I. Shihata

This note addresses the possible correlation between “democracy” and “development”, and the implications, if any, of such a correlation for the World Bank. This calls, first, for providing a definition of the two concepts as they are used here. To clarify the matter further, a distinction is made from the beginning between “development” in the broad sense and the concept of “economic growth” in the strict sense.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document