As Chair of the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC), the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) highest advisory body, Ms Anderson will lead meetings and negotiations on the IMF’s upcoming work. She will also take part in the G20 meeting.
On Thursday, Ms Andersson will lead her first meetings as Chair of the IMFC. As Chair, Ms Anderson leads negotiations on the communiqué that the IMFC will agree on. The communiqué describes the IMFC’s views on the status of the world economy and recommended policy measures. It also provides guidance on the IMF’s future work.
“The IMF is a key player in providing support to countries during the economic downturn. The IMFC will provide direction for international economic cooperation and the IMF’s activities. The Chair has an important role with great responsibility. I expect the IMFC to give strong backing to continued support of the global economy and reversing the trend of increased inequality between and within countries. Ensuring swift production and wide distribution of vaccines is essential,” says Ms Andersson.
During the meetings, IMFC members are expected to back the proposal of providing a substantial liquidity boost to the international financial system. The members will also stress the particular importance of aid to low-income countries, including a final extension of debt payment deferral for the poorest countries. An additional important message is that the economic recovery must contribute to the climate transition.
In conjunction with this week’s IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings, a G20 meeting for finance ministers and heads of central banks is also being held on Wednesday. The focus of the meeting is how to achieve a sustainable, digital and inclusive global recovery.
“The most important objective of economic cooperation right now is to ensure global recovery. The crisis has hit the weakest members of society the hardest and the consequences have been the worst in low-income countries. My emphasis during the meeting will be that policy measures must be formulated so as to make the recovery inclusive. We must prevent the further widening of gaps in society,” says Ms Andersson.
In addition to matters related to the pandemic, the meeting will also cover financial stability, digital currencies and sustainable funding. Issues concerning international taxation and funding of global public goods will also be discussed.
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