Mohieldin: Coexistence with Pandemic "Essential" to Avoid Recession

Mahmoud Mohieldin, Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) spoke on Sunday about the public policy priorities that have emerged at the global level, including coexistence with the pandemic through supporting the health services sector in treatment and prevention, as well as efforts to prevent the transformation of the economic recession into a prolonged depression.

Mohieldin also presented a set of recommendations that follow when making public policy decisions in a "highly changing" world, such as integrating sustainability into economic and social activities by linking short-term crisis policy goals with future public policy objectives.

This came during his participation in a panel discussion entitled “Global Economic Trends and Changes in the Balance of Global Power” at the opening conference of the Faculty of Economics and Political Science (FEPS), Cairo University.

The executive director said that the global economy aims to avoid the challenges of increasing global debt, and to adopt digital transformation policies to stand against cyptocurriencies, which as he calls it "gambling" without limits.

During the conference, Mohieldin reviewed the importance of value chains and trade links, and also the state's role in responding to the current global challenges.

He stated that it is important to distinguish between global trends and occasional changes in public, economic and social policy-making, as well as the importance of  distinguishing between conditions of risk and conditions of uncertainty when making analysis and forecasts.

He hinted at the link between risks and opportunities in understanding the changes of globalization, conflicts and international voids, and not being satisfied with one indicator or a deficient group to understand the overall picture of economic, social, political performance in society.

He added, "The decision-maker must rely on sustainable development indicators in a manner similar to a leadership indicator board," noting the importance of coordination in the performance of public policies and institutional work and looking through what is called "basic pragmatism" to deal with the dilemmas, as the ideas of economic schools that Arose in the last century are insufficient to deal with the challenges and opportunities resulting in the current global stage.

The session was moderated by Heba Nassar, Vice President of Cairo University, with the participation of  Roberta Gatti, Chief Economist of the Human Development practice group in the World Bank, Adel Abdel Latif, Deputy Director of the Regional Office for Arab Countries at UNDP, and Mohamed Kamal, Professor of Political Science.