July 30, 2020 - By Tobias Adrian, Ghiath Shabsigh, and Ashraf Khan
The role and mandates of central banks have become broader and more complex since the 2008 global financial crisis. The unconventional nature and growing scale of interventions (as seen again during the COVID-19 pandemic) have brought on much higher scrutiny. More transparency and accountability are required to maintain public support, safeguard independence, and enhance policy effectiveness.
The IMF has developed a Central Bank Transparency Code to help member countries answer these demands and increase trust and support. It aims to facilitate more effective communication between central banks and their various stakeholders, reducing uncertainty and contributing to better policy choices.
July28, 2020 - By Vitor Gaspar, Martin Mühleisen, and Rhoda Weeks-Brown
Corruption, the abuse of public office for private gain, is about more than wasted money: it erodes the social contract and corrodes the government’s ability to help grow the economy in a way that benefits all citizens. Corruption was a problem before the crisis, but the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the importance of stronger governance for three reasons.
First, governments around the world are playing a bigger role in the economy to combat the pandemic and provide economic lifelines to people and firms. This expanded role is crucial but it also increases opportunities for corruption. To help ensure the money and measures are helping the people who need it most, governments need timely and transparent reporting, ex-post audits and accountability procedures, and close cooperation with civil society and the private sector.
July 21, 2020 - By Kristalina Georgieva, Stefania Fabrizio, Cheng Hoon Lim, and Marina M. Tavares
The COVID-19 pandemic threatens to roll back gains in women’s economic opportunities, widening gender gaps that persist despite 30 years of progress.
Well-designed policies to foster recovery can mitigate the negative effects of the crisis on women and prevent further setbacks for gender equality. What is good for women is ultimately good for addressing income inequality, economic growth, and resilience.
Why has COVID-19 had disproportionate effects on women and their economic status? There are several reasons.
First, women are more likely than men to work in social sectors — such as services industries, retail, tourism, and hospitality — that require face-to-face interactions. These sectors are hit hardest by social distancing and mitigation measures. In the United States, unemployment among women was two percentage points higher than men between April-June 2020.
WASHINGTON, July 10, 2020 – As people in developing countries around the world faced multiple crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Bank Group worked to respond quickly with technical and policy advice, and scaled up financing targeted to the poor and towards improving development outcomes. World Bank Group support rapidly adjusted to help countries fight the pandemic by focusing on four priorities: saving lives threatened by the pandemic; protecting the poor and vulnerable; securing the foundations of the economy to shorten the time to recovery; and strengthening policies and institutions for resilience based on transparent and sustainable debt and investments. To support these emergency programs, World Bank Group financing was significantly scaled up, reaching $74 billion in commitments.
Financing deployed, together with technical and policy advice and analytical support, is helping countries address health and economic impacts of the pandemic, maintaining countries’ private sector, aiding nations with food insecurity due to locust swarms in Africa and the Middle East, and combating widening inequality, among other key priorities.
Doing Business provides objective measures of business regulations for local firms in 190 economies.
HIGHLIGHTS
Main findings for Doing Business 2020:
- Doing Business captures 294 regulatory reforms implemented between May 2018 and May 2019. Worldwide, 115 economies made it easier to do business.
- The economies with the most notable improvement in Doing Business 2020 are Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Togo, Bahrain, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Kuwait, China, India and Nigeria. In 2018/19, these countries implemented one-fifth of all the reforms recorded worldwide.
- Economies in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean continue to lag in terms of reforms. Only two Sub-Saharan African economies rank in the top 50 on the ease of doing business; no Latin American economies rank in this group.
- Doing Business 2020 continues to show a steady convergence between developing and developed economies, especially in the area of business incorporation. Since 2003/04, 178 economies have implemented 722 reforms captured by the starting a business indicator set, either reducing or eliminating barriers to entry.
- Those economies that score well on Doing Business tend to benefit from higher levels of entrepreneurial activity and lower levels of corruption.
- While economic reasons are the main drivers of reform, the advancement of neighboring economies provides an additional impetus for regulatory change.
- Twenty-six economies became less business-friendly, introducing 31 regulatory changes that stifle efficiency and quality of regulation.
More…
https://www.doingbusiness.org/
