African economies began tapping into overseas markets for funding in the early 2000s, after debt burdens had been alleviated by the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. However, surging interest rates on dollar- and euro-denominated loans in recent years have prompted countries to turn to domestic markets for their borrowing needs. Amadou Sy heads the IMF Regional Studies division. In this podcast, he says there are benefits to issuing debt in local markets and in local currency.

Transcript: https://traffic.libsyn.com/imfpodcast/Amadou_Sy-transcript-IMF_Podcast.pdf

Read the article at IMF.org/FandD

Unprecedented debt levels are pressing governments to make tough choices. While aging populations demand more public spending, resources are stretched thin, and the days of cheap borrowing that allowed the debt burden to be kicked down the road are behind us. Rodrigo Valdés and Era Dabla-Norris head the IMF Fiscal Affairs department and write about high debt and hard choices in the March edition of Finance & Development magazine. In this podcast, they say the erosion of public trust is a factor in reconciling competing fiscal priorities.

Transcript: https://traffic.libsyn.com/imfpodcast/Valdes-Dabla-Norris-AUDIO-transcript-IMF_Podcast.pdf

Read the article at IMF.org/fadd

The most prosperous of civilizations were the most open. The Romans, for example, expanded their empire by integrating the populations they conquered, creating a melting pot of new ideas. Johan Norberg's latest book, Peak Human, examines the rise and fall of seven golden age civilizations. In this podcast, he says that if openness to learning and trade are what great societies make, building walls to protect their dominance often sparks their demise. Norberg is a historian and senior fellow at the Cato Institute.

Transcript: https://traffic.libsyn.com/imfpodcast/Johan_Norberg-transcript-IMF_Podcast.pdf

Read the article Finance & Development: IMF.org/fandd

There is strength in numbers, and the idea of European integration through a single market was to capitalize on the EU as a whole. However, the single market is a product of the early 90s, and EU member states now appear reticent to pool sovereignty to the degree required to counter the geopolitical challenges of today's world. Enrico Letta is President of the Jacques Delors Institute and a champion of Delors' vision of creating a fully integrated European economic space. Letta's 2024 report, Much More than a Market, argues that adaptation of the single market should include all sectors rather than a select few and that fragmentation is holding Europe back.

Transcript: https://traffic.libsyn.com/imfpodcast/Enrico_Letta-transcript-IMF_Podcast.pdf

While official statistics compiled by government agencies are still considered the most reliable, policymakers are increasingly using private data to get around their limitations. Claudia Sahm is a former principal economist at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and has studied the growing role of alternative data in monetary policy. In this podcast, Sahm says the immediacy and granularity of private company data should serve as a complement to traditional data, not as a substitute.

Transcript: https://bit.ly/3MH31X6

Read the article at IMF.org/fandd

Price stability is the main goal for central banks, and monetary policy is how they achieve it. However, societies are always in flux, and central bankers who pay close attention to emerging trends are more likely to make better policy decisions. Bank of Korea Governor Chang Yong Rhee has expanded the scope of research to include structural issues like population aging to better understand the changing dynamics of Korea's economy. Before becoming Governor in 2022, Mr. Rhee held several senior roles in global financial institutions, including the IMF, where he led the Asia and Pacific Department.

While artificial intelligence continues to outperform our human abilities in many areas, Pablo Peña believes critical thinking and curiosity are what will keep us in the driver's seat. AI can only draw on human-produced knowledge, Peña says, "The version of AI that we know now is only a sophisticated remix of what we know already." Peña is an associate professor of economics at the University of Chicago and author of Human Capital for Humans: An Accessible Introduction to the Economic Science of People. In this Podcast, Peña and journalist Rhoda Metcalfe discuss his article in the December issue of Finance & Development magazine.

Transcript: https://bit.ly/4ptL4cE

Read the article at IMF.org/FANDD

Technology is often what drives big changes, but innovations like cryptocurrencies and blockchain are transforming the world of money at breakneck speed. While the volatility of digital currencies like Bitcoin has kept it out of traditional banking systems, stablecoin is gaining ground in the race for a suitable digital counterpart to fiat currency. Dante Disparte heads strategy and global policy at Circle, which issues two of the world's most widely used stablecoins. In this podcast, he says stablecoin money can help overcome inefficiencies in the traditional banking system without compromising financial security.

Transcript: https://bit.ly/4odNIlK