The Centre for Social and Economic Progress hosted the Flagship Seminar on Revising Fiscal Rules and Fiscal Strategies after the Pandemic. The seminar took place in a hybrid mode on November 11th, 2022, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm IST. With this event, we were delighted to bring together a panel of distinguished speakers to share their thoughts on how countries can revisit their fiscal rules and strategies as they emerge from the pandemic facing fiscal and monetary crises.

About the event:

Governments face record debt levels, tightening monetary policies, and urgent demands to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, while policy buffers are largely exhausted after two years of the pandemic. Many envisage a return to fiscal rules that had been suspended during the pandemic to strengthen credibility and promote consistent macroeconomic policies. This event introduces recent IMF publications on these issues and offers an opportunity to rethink fiscal rules and determine how governments can build fiscal buffers in normal times so that fiscal policy can be more agile and flexible in responding to crises, without undermining fiscal sustainability. A risk-based medium-term fiscal framework that combines standards, rules, and strengthened institutions would strike a better balance between flexibility and credibility.

Presenter:

Raphael Lam:
Raphael Lam is the Deputy Division Chief in the Fiscal Affairs Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). His division oversees the preparation of the Fiscal Monitor, an IMF flagship publication prepared twice a year. He led the October 2022 Fiscal Monitor and co-authored papers on fiscal rules and fiscal councils, including the update of the 2021 IMF Fiscal Rules Database. Previously, he was a resident representative in China during 2014-17 and worked in various country teams in the Asia and Pacific Department and European Department. His research includes fiscal rules and frameworks, debt vulnerabilities, and corporate finances.

Discussants:

Poonam Gupta:
Poonam Gupta is the Director General of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER). She is also a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, NITI Aayog’s Development Evaluation Advisory Committee, and the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy’s (NIPFP) Governing Body. She has previously worked at the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank, NIPFP, the Delhi School of Economics, and the International Monetary Fund. Her research has been published and cited widely in scholarly journals and has also featured in leading international business dailies. She specialises in macroeconomics, and issues related to emerging market economies.

Anoop Singh:
Anoop Singh is Distinguished Fellow at CSEP and has been Member of the XV Finance Commission of India. Previously, at the International Monetary Fund, his appointments included being Director of the Asia Pacific Department, Director of the Western Hemisphere Department, and Director of Special Operations. His additional work experience includes being Special Adviser to the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. He has taught at Georgetown University as Adjunct Professor. He has also been Managing Director and Head of Regulatory Affairs, Asia Pacific, for JP Morgan. He has worked and written extensively on macroeconomics, surveillance, and crisis management issues.

Moderator:

Rakesh Mohan:
Rakesh Mohan is President and Distinguished Fellow at CSEP. He is a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. Previously, he was Senior Fellow at the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, Yale University, Professor at Yale’s School of Management, and Distinguished Consulting Professor at Stanford University. Closely associated with the Indian economic reforms process since the late 1980s, he has served in senior roles including as the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Secretary, Economic Affairs, Chief Economic Adviser of the Indian Ministry of Finance, and Economic Adviser in the Indian Ministry of Industry. He has authored books on urban economics, urban development, monetary policy, and economic reforms.

Please contact Trishna Wahengbam at TWahengbam@csep.org for event-related or media inquiries.

All content reflects the individual views of the speakers. The Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) does not hold an institutional view on any subject.