IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said yesterday she is confident about the economic outlook despite uncertainties around war and geopolitics as the global economy has remained resilient.
In a speech at the World Governments Summit in Dubai, Georgieva said the IMF would publish a paper today that shows phasing out explicit energy subsidies could save US$336 billion in the Middle East, equivalent to the economies of Iraq and Libya combined.
She added that in addition to savings, eliminating regressive energy subsidies “discourages pollution, and helps improve social spending,” in a copy of the speech published on the IMF Web site.
Photo: Reuters
In its latest regional economic update published last month, the IMF revised its GDP growth forecast for the Middle East and North Africa region downwards to 2.9 percent this year, due in part to short-term oil production cuts.
“While uncertainties are still high, we can be a bit more confident about the economic outlook, because the global economy has been surprisingly resilient,” she said in the speech.
Speaking about the conflict in Gaza, Georgieva warned of widening consequences.
“This exceptionally uncertain moment compounds the challenges of economies that are still recovering from previous shocks. And further widening of the conflict would aggravate the economic harm,” she said.
Separately, Ukraine is considering a plan — including expanded domestic bond sales, tax hikes and spending cuts — to plug a hole in its budget in a bid to secure money from the IMF if crucial US aid remains blocked.
Ukrainian officials intend to propose the plan to the IMF during a staff visit to Kyiv next week, according to people familiar with the matter. The measures are needed to assure the IMF that Ukraine can service its debts in case allies fail to provide aid, a condition for its US$15.6 billion loan program.
The IMF staff, led by the fund’s Ukraine mission chief Gavin Gray, is to visit Kyiv for three days starting today, prior to official talks on Ukraine in neighboring Poland, the people said. The visit comes ahead of the IMF’s review of the loan program, which is to start later this month and would unlock a US$900 million tranche of aid.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
RSS