While most economic indicators deteriorated last year, house prices largely shrugged off the effects of the pandemic. Of the over 60 countries that enter into the IMF’s Global House Price Index, three-quarters saw increases in house prices during 2020, and this trend has largely continued in countries with more recent data. IMF research indicates that low interest rates contributed to the boom in house prices, as did policy support provided by governments and workers’ greater need to be able to work from home....

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Speech by EVP Margrethe Vestager at the Information Technology Industry Council | Good morning. Thank you, for the invitation to speak today and to Mr Oxman for the kind presentation. If we go by the polls, the Western World is experiencing what we could call a ‘One Third’ political crisis. Just the other day, a survey here in Belgium revealed that One Third of people no longer believe they are living in a democracy. One Third believe society would be better run...

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2021 Per Jacobsson Lecture by Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB, at the IMF Annual Meetings, 16 October 2021 | It is a pleasure to be back in Washington and to deliver this year’s Per Jacobsson Lecture. As a young man in the 1920s, Jacobsson worked in the Economic and Financial Section of the League of Nations Secretariat. There, he was actively involved in work on Europe’s financial reconstruction in the wake of the greatest shock that had hit the continent:...

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October 14, 2021 | GENEVA | United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai today delivered a speech an event hosted by the Graduate Institute's Geneva Trade Platform about the World Trade Organization’s important role in the global economy, why it must adapt to the rapidly changing global economy, and how it can help unlock broad-based economic prosperity. You can watch Ambassador Tai's speech at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaKSYxJEGNk. Ambassador Tai's remarks as prepared for delivery are below: Good afternoon.  Thank you to Dmitry and Richard, the Geneva...

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Statement by Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB, at the forty-fourth meeting of the International Monetary and Financial Committee | IMF Annual Meetings, 14 October 2021 | Global economic activity has continued to recover since our previous meeting in April this year, thanks to further progress in vaccination campaigns and supportive economic policies. However, the pace of the recovery remains uneven across sectors and countries, and the spread of the more contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus (COVID-19), coupled with...

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The Commission adopted today a Communication on Energy Prices, to tackle the exceptional rise in global energy prices, which is projected to last through the winter, and help Europe's people and businesses. The Communication includes a “toolbox” that the EU and its Member States can use to address the immediate impact of current prices increases, and further strengthen resilience against future shocks. Short-term national measures include emergency income support to households, state aid for companies, and targeted tax reductions. The Commission will...

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1. Why has the Commission adopted a Communication on Energy Prices? The European Union, like many other regions in the world, is currently facing a sharp spike in energy prices. This is a serious concern for citizens, businesses, the European Commission and governments all over the EU. Today's spike is principally driven by increased global demand for energy, in particular gas, linked to the global economic recovery. While energy price fluctuations have occurred in the past, the current situation is exceptional...

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Speech by Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB, at the Finance at Countdown event | The urgent need to transition to carbon neutral We have seen this summer what climate change can do in terms of disasters. We had floods in Europe, heatwaves in North America and elsewhere; there have been ample examples this year of what the world may look like in the future. And it might be worse. The prominence of climate change in the public debate shows that...

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Options to magnify the impact of the Special Drawing Rights Allocation through voluntary channeling. One of the most significant measures introduced by the International Monetary Fund in response to the global pandemic was the recent historic allocation of Special Drawing Rights, or SDRs. The challenge now is to ensure this distribution is redirected—or channeled—to where the need is greatest. To that end, we are exploring three options to enable more resilient and sustainable economic futures for the poorest and most...

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Today, Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans, who leads the EU's international negotiations on climate, and Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry hosted a virtual ministerial meeting to mobilise further support for the Global Methane Pledge. The co-convenors and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme Inger Andersen affirmed the critical importance of rapidly reducing methane emissions as the single most effective strategy to reduce near-term global warming and keep the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius within...

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