Narrow Your Choices

Refine By Topic

Refine By Series

Refine By Language

Refine By Date

—

Refine By IMF Taxonomy

Refine By JEL Taxonomy

Refine by LOC Taxonomy

Refine By THEMA Taxonomy

  • Print
  • Save

Europe > Ukraine

You are looking at 1 - 10 of 17 items for :

  • Type: Journal Issue x
  • Energy and the Macroeconomy x
Clear All Modify Search
Cover IMF Working Papers
Designing Expenditure Policy Conditionality in IMF-Supported Programs
Emine Hanedar
and
Zsuzsa Munkacsi
This gap-filling paper provides granular advice on how to design quantitative and structural conditionality of IMF-supported programs in six expenditure policy areas: social assistance, energy subsidies, pension spending, health spending, education spending, and wage bill management. Such granular advice is based on a stocktaking exercise: an analysis of 105 programs approved between 2002 and July 2021 containing a ca. 1400 conditions. Conditions are key to identify outcomes or actions seen as critical for program success or monitoring, and so are essential for financial support countries can receive from the Fund.
Keywords:
IMF-supported programs; conditionality; expenditure policy; social assistance; energy subsidies; pension spending; health spending; education spending; wage bill management; policy conditionality; policy area; IMF working papers; reform plan; E. public health spending; Health care spending; Caribbean; North Africa; Middle East; East Africa; Europe
Cover IMF Working Papers
Medium-term Macroeconomic Effects of Russia’s War in Ukraine and How it Affects Energy Security and Global Emission Targets
Hugo Rojas-Romagosa
Russia’s war in Ukraine has disrupted the supply of natural gas for many European countries, triggering an energy crisis and affecting energy security. We simulate the medium-term effects of these trade disruptions and find that most European countries have limited GDP losses but those more dependent on Russian natural gas face moderate losses. European fossil fuel consumption and emissions are reduced and after accounting for the war impacts, achieving Europe’s emission targets becomes slightly less costly. In terms of energy security, the war eliminates European energy dependency from Russian imports, but most of the natural gas and oil imports will be substituted by other suppliers. We also find that constructing a new Russian pipeline to China does not provide significant macroeconomic benefits to either country.
Keywords:
Energy supply; energy security; trade disruptions; greenhouse gas emissions; computable general equilibrium; baseline share; w.r.t. baseline price; w.r.t baseline price; oil import; Natural gas sector; Imports; Exports; Electricity; Europe; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Carbon Prices and Inflation in the Euro Area
Maximilian Konradt
,
Thomas McGregor
, and
Frederik G Toscani
What is the effect of carbon pricing on inflation? This paper shows empirically that the consequences of the European Union’s Emission Trading System (ETS) and national carbon taxation on inflation have been limited in the euro area, so far. This result is supported by analysis based on a panel local projections approach, as well as event studies based on individual countries. Our estimates suggest that carbon taxes raised the price of energy but had limited effects on overall consumer prices. Since future climate policy will need to be much more ambitious compared to what has been observed so far, including the need for larger increases in carbon prices, possible non-linearities might make extrapolating from historical results difficult. We thus also use input-output tables to simulate the mechanical effect of a carbon tax consistent with the EU’s ‘Fit-for-55’ commitments on inflation. The required increase of effective carbon prices from around 40 Euro per ton of CO2 in 2021 to around 150 Euro by 2030 could raise annual euro area inflation by between 0.2 and 0.4 percentage points. It is worth noting that the energy price increases caused by the rise in the effective carbon price to 150 Euro is substantially smaller than the energy price spike seen in 2022 following the invasion of Ukraine.
Keywords:
Green transition; carbon taxes; climate policy; inflation; energy price spike; EU ETS price; European Union's Emission Trading System; headline inflation; EU ETS; price level; Carbon tax; Greenhouse gas emissions; Consumer prices; Europe; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Geoeconomic Fragmentation and Commodity Markets
Mr. Jorge A Alvarez
,
Mehdi Benatiya Andaloussi
,
Chiara Maggi
,
Alexandre Sollaci
,
Martin Stuermer
, and
Petia Topalova
This paper studies the economic impact of fragmentation of commodity trade. We assemble a novel dataset of production and bilateral trade flows of the 48 most important energy, mineral and agricultural commodities. We develop a partial equilibrium framework to assess which commodity markets are most vulnerable in the event of trade disruptions and the economic risks that they pose. We find that commodity trade fragmentation – which has accelerated since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – could cause large price changes and price volatility for many commodities. Mineral markets critical for the clean energy transition and selected agricultural commodity markets appear among the most vulnerable in the hypothetical segmentation of the world into two geopolitical blocs examined in the paper. Trade disruptions result in heterogeneous impacts on economic surplus across countries. However, due to offsetting effects across commodity producing and consuming countries, surplus losses appear modest at the global level.
Keywords:
Commodities; international trade; sanctions; spillovers; prices; geoeconomic fragmentation; trade disruption; price change; commodity producer; net-commodity-importing country; trade fragmentation; Commodity markets; Commodity price fluctuations; Agricultural commodities; Inflation; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Energy Support for Firms in Europe: Best Practice Considerations and Recent Experience
Mr. Anil Ari
,
Philipp Engler
,
Gloria Li
,
Manasa Patnam
, and
Ms. Laura Valderrama
The surge in energy prices due to Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine significantly increased costs for European firms, prompting governments to introduce a range of support schemes. Although energy prices had eased by early 2023, uncertainty around prices remains unusually large. Against this backdrop, this paper examines the case for government intervention and identifies best practices with a view to improving the design of existing energy support schemes, facilitating exit from those schemes, and preparing policymakers for a downside scenario in which energy prices flare up again. The paper argues that support should be limited in size, strictly temporary in nature, narrowly targeted, and accompanied by strong safeguards and conditionality, while preserving price signals as much as possible to encourage energy conservation. Finally, the paper reviews recent support schemes introduced by European governments in light of the identified best practice considerations.
Keywords:
Energy prices; energy subsidies; financial support; price caps; energy crisis; Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; energy support scheme; price signal; best practice consideration; Annex II; support scheme; Energy pricing; Energy conservation; Fuel prices; Solvency; Europe
Cover IMF Working Papers
One Hundred Inflation Shocks: Seven Stylized Facts
Mr. Anil Ari
,
Mr. Carlos Mulas-Granados
,
Mr. Victor Mylonas
,
Mr. Lev Ratnovski
, and
Wei Zhao
This paper identifies over 100 inflation shock episodes in 56 countries since the 1970s, including over 60 episodes linked to the 1973–79 oil crises. We document that only in 60 percent of the episodes was inflation brought back down (or “resolved”) within 5 years, and that even in these “successful” cases resolving inflation took, on average, over 3 years. Success rates were lower and resolution times longer for episodes induced by terms-of-trade shocks during the 1973–79 oil crises. Most unresolved episodes involved “premature celebrations”, where inflation declined initially, only to plateau at an elevated level or re-accelerate. Сountries that resolved inflation had tighter monetary policy that was maintained more consistently over time, lower nominal wage growth, and less currency depreciation, compared to unresolved cases. Successful disinflations were associated with short-term output losses, but not with larger output, employment, or real wage losses over a 5-year horizon, potentially indicating the value of policy credibility and macroeconomic stability.
Keywords:
Inflation Shocks; Disinflation; Monetary Policy; 1973–79 Oil Crises; Termsof- Trade Shocks; terms-of-trade shock; inflation shock; shock episode; episode selection; involved premature celebration; Inflation; Oil prices; Fiscal stance; Global
Cover Selected Issues Papers
Impact of High Energy Prices on Germany’s Potential Output
Miss Yushu Chen
,
Ting Lan
,
Ms. Aiko Mineshima
, and
Jing Zhou
The surge in energy prices since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has reduced the energy-intensive sector’s production in Germany, although the non-energy intensive sector’s production has held up thanks in part to firms’ efforts to improve energy efficiency. Energy prices are expected to remain elevated in the foreseeable future, compared to pre-war levels, adversely affecting firms’ productivity and thus lowering Germany’s potential output. Economic modeling suggests that this effect could be around 1¼ percent of GDP in staff’s baseline, with some uncertainty around this estimate, depending on the ultimate magnitude of the energy price shock and the degree to which increased energy efficiency can mitigate it. Policies can promote effective adjustment to the shock by increasing productivity and maintaining strong price incentives to conserve energy and invest in renewable energy production.
Keywords:
Germany; energy prices; energy efficiency; productivity; potential output; potential growth; directed technical change; price effect; price signal; surge in energy price; effect favor; optimization problem; energy efficiency response; Energy conservation; Fuel prices; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Republic of Serbia: 2023 Article IV Consultation, First Review Under the Stand-By Arrangement, and Request for Modification of Performance Criteria-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Republic of Serbia
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This 2023 Article IV Consultation highlights that Serbia has made impressive economic gains over much of the past decade: living standards improved, inflation fell, public finances were strengthened, and reserves increased, helped by ample foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows. But spillovers from the war in Ukraine—especially the sharp increase in international energy prices—and deep-rooted problems in Serbia’s energy sector that came to a head last year, led to large external and fiscal financing needs, prompting the authorities to request a IMF-supported Stand-By Arrangement (SBA). Tighter monetary policy is needed to reduce inflation. The National Bank of Serbia should ensure that real ex-ante policy rates become positive and that such rates stay positive until the path of inflation is clearly converging to target. Fiscal policy should work alongside monetary policy as fiscal consolidation helps disinflation and lowers public debt. In addition, any fiscal over-performance should be saved or used for priority investments.
Keywords:
inflation expectation; rate hike; food price inflation; precautionary Stand-By Arrangement; budget financing; inflation dynamics; SBA approval; A. monetary policy; Inflation; Energy sector; Government finance statistics; Loans; Global; Europe
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Republic of Serbia: Third Review Under the Policy Coordination Instrument, Request for a Stand-By Arrangement, and Cancellation of the Policy Coordination Instrument-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for the Republic of Serbia
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
In the wake of the Covid pandemic, Serbia embarked on a well-paced consolidation path to rebuild buffers, supported by a program under the Policy Coordination Instrument (PCI). Given higher energy prices and domestic electricity production problems, high global inflation, weaker trading partner growth, and spillovers from Russia’s war in Ukraine, the authorities have requested financial support under a two-year Stand-by Arrangement (SBA) of SDR 1,898.92 million (290 percent of quota, about EUR 2.4 billion). The SBA supports economic and financial policies to address external and fiscal financing needs, maintain macroeconomic and financial stability, and continue to strengthen the economy’s performance and resilience through structural reforms. The PCI was cancelled upon approval of the SBA.
Keywords:
oil price shock; energy price inflation; energy price pressure; public debt debt ratio; reference rate; existing Policy Coordination Instrument; Inflation; Energy prices; Energy sector; Imports; Tariffs; Global; Europe
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Ukraine: Staff Report for the 2013 Article IV Consultation and First Post-Program Monitoring
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This paper discusses Ukraine’s 2013 Article IV Consultation and First Post-Program Monitoring. The Ukrainian economy has been in recession since mid-2012, and the outlook remains challenging. In January–September 2013, GDP contracted by 1¼ percent year-over-year, reflecting lower demand for Ukrainian exports and falling investments. Consumer prices stayed flat, held down by decreasing food prices and tight monetary policy. The fiscal stance loosened in 2012–2013, contributing to the buildup of vulnerabilities. Ukraine remains current on all its payments to the IMF, and the authorities have reaffirmed their commitment to repay all outstanding IMF credit.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; government; energy company Naftogaz; CDS spread; NBU intervention; staff appraisal; gross reserve; deficit monetization; Exchange rates; Loans; Global; Eastern Europe; Europe; baseline General government; Energy sector