Developing Asia as a region has experienced rapid growth over the past three decades. What have these episodes of sustained growth meant for income inequality? Has the region had “inclusive growth,” meaning growth which saw incomes rise without inequality increasing, or has inequality gotten worse? ...

In an earlier paper (and blog) published in March, we assessed the initial five programs supported by the IMF’s the Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST), a new financing vehicle designed to help countries address climate change and pandemic preparedness. Among our findings, four stood out. Firs...

The future of such spending in countries currently experiencing or at high risk of debt distress is particularly troubling. A country is in debt distress when its ability to service domestic and external debt is impaired. This blog post delves into these issues based on more recent health spending a...

In this blog post, we examine the rise of several of today’s big military spenders. These risers were not in the top ten spenders in 1990, but high rates of economic growth allowed them to allocate more dollars to the military, displacing countries higher in the list, including G7 nations.

The IMF should be applauded for implementing the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF). That said, it is highly improbable that extending RSF financing to an additional 44 countries will be feasible in the next one or two years as it would require a major change in the mindset of borrowing co...

Space is almost too glamorous for its own good. This is understandable; for most of human existence, the nighttime sky has been unreachable, mysterious, yet strangely helpful (especially to those navigating or measuring time by the stars). Like the first ships to cross an ocean, early satellites wer...

In April 2022, the IMF board approved the establishment of the Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST) to provide financial support to countries addressing two key long-term structural challenges, climate change and pandemic preparedness. Almost a year late, the board has approved RST-supported pr...