in south korea wants to be part of the offices and why the philippines would like to become part of it. they see the value of the relationships and the agreements bring down with a face and doing things on the cooperative level. that's the way forward to develop deeper relationships and defense cooperation agreements and scratch the surface for other countries out there. lots of conversations with the ambassador of australia. he was adamant to say you treat canada better than australia and a deeper agreement than with

canada and he's one 100% right. they've taken almost 18 months to make those changes so we have to operate at a faster pace and make sure we are less restricted and look to agreements with our friends to counter what we see with this modern evil between china, russia and north korea at everett. >> thank you so much, i know this is a really busy time of year can you. really appreciate you taking the time to be here with us today. [applause] >> thank you for attending

today. i think we saw messages of optimism but also a lot of work remains to be done. thank you for coming.

♪ >> c-span is live at the headquarters of the international monetary fund in washington, d.c.

just waiting for remarks from the managing director, kristalina georgieva, on the global economy and the i.m.f.'s priorities. she's expected to speak and have a fireside chat with reuters' andrea. expecting this to get under way shortly on c-span. andrea: we are expected to announce kristalina georgieva to give a curtain speech. i'm andrea from reuters and delighted to be here today to introduce a woman that needs no introduction. particularly not in her own house. ill deit for the audience out there. masai ujiri began her second year -- kristalina georgieva began her second year term at the i.m.f. month. she's the first woman to head the global herseth sandliner and the second woman to run this institution which is celebrating

its 80th anniversary this year. the first of many, we won't go through them all. she was the first bulgarian to ever visit fiji. she calls herself an unwavering optimist. took months before the covid-19 pandemic and i remember well how she spoke out at a g20 meeting in riyadh, saudi arabia in february, 2020. about the potential devastating consequences of the disease that was just starting. a scourge that ultimately has claimed over something like seven million lives to date. at that time in those very early days, other finance officials were down playing the risks. we know what happened. and the i.m.f. played a crate cal role in shaping the world's response. since the pandemic, the i.m.f. has provided about $1 trillion in liquidity and finance for its 190 members, soon-to-be 191.

she brings a different perspective to this job of running the i.m.f. than her predecessors. that reflects her experience. she grew up in pwaoupbist bulgaria behind the iron curtain and knew what it meant to experience the depravations of that system. she exspao*erpbsed firsthand the impact of str-bg taourl reforms -- of structural reforms. she wanted to study journalism was accepted into -- but that was difficult to get into. but eventually was accepted into bulgaria's institute of economics. and quickly embraced the discipline as a useful way to understand and interpret our complicated world. it was like serendipity. she studied french but went to britain. later -- learning there about market economies. writing the first textbook on microeconomics in bulgaria. then working at the world bank. then at the european commission. returning to the world bank to

be its c.e.o. and since 2019, october 1, she's been the managing director here. just across the street. just across the street. from the world bank. under her leadership, i think many of you in the room were here when she greeted people here, under her leadership the i.m.f. has adopt add first ever climate strategy sustained its first term -- first long-term lending instrument, the resilience and sustainability trust, and last year the i.m.f. increased its quota shares to member countries by 50% on an equitable proportion at basis. it add add third sub-saharan african chair to the i.m.f. board. and as you know, she's raised her voice for gender equality. one of the first events that she did upon taking over was a very large and well attended panel on gender. she's called for greater

attention to climate change. despite the responsibility she holds still manages to spend time with her grandchildren, grand taught earn grandson. i'm honored to introduce her now to present a curtain raiser for next week's annual meeting for i.m.f. and the world bank. please welcome, kristalina. [applause] kristalina: thank you. thank you, andrea. very kind words. good choice to sit down with the audience because when i speak we will have a chance to see visually some of the points i make and you are very well seated to do so. five years ago in this very hall

i delivered my first curtain raiser as head of the i.m.f. at that time my main concern was sin kron niesed -- sin kron nien growth. only months late it paled in comparison with the sudden shock of the pandemic, followed by other dramatic events, the tragic wars in ukraine and the middle east, the cost of living crisis, and further fracturing of the global economy. next week, the world's finance ministers and central bank governors will converge here to reflect on where we are, where we are headed, and what to do about it. i would like to offer you a

preview of what this conversation is likely to be. tpeurbgs, we will cherish the good news. rightly so, because we haven't had much of it lately. the big tkpwhraoebl inflation -- inflation wave -- the big global inflation wave is in retreat. a combination of resolute monetary policy action, easing supply chain constraints, and moderating food and energy prices is guiding us back in the direction of price stability. and this has been done without tipping the global economy into recession and large-scale job losses. something we saw during the pandemic, and after past inflation episodes, and which many feared we would see again.

but we didn't. both in u.s. and your area labor markets we see taking these two examples, we see cooling in an orderly manner, and let's pause and recognize this is a big achievement. where did this resilience come from? answer, from strong policy and institutional foundations built over time and from international policy corporation as countries learn to act fast and act together. we are benefiting from central bank independencecy in advanced economies in many emerging markets, we are benefiting from years of reforms in banking. from progress made in building fiscal institutions.

and progress made in capacity development worldwide. but this fight the good -- despite the good news, don't expect any victory parties next week. for at least three reasons. one, inflation rates may be falling but the higher price level that we all feel in our wallets is here to stay. families are hurting. people are angry. advanced economies saw inflation rates at once in a generation highs. and that memory is not going to be erased rapidly. so did many emerging market economies. look at how bad the situation

was for low-income countries. at the country level and at the level of individuals inflation always hits the poor the hardest. true. even worse, we are in a difficult geopolitical environment. we are all very worried about the expanding contpwhreubgt in the middle east -- conflict in the middle east and potential to destabilize regional economies and global oil and gas markets. alongside the prolonged wars in ukraine and wars elsewhere, it's heartbreaking. and it is harming confidence in the world economy. and on top of it all, this is happening at the time when our forecasts point to an

unforgiving combination of low growth and high bet. a difficult future. let's take a closer look. median term growth is forecast to be lackluster. not sharply lower than prepandemic, but far from good enough. not enough to eradicate world poverty, nor to create the number of jobs we require, nor to generate the tax revenues that governments need to service the heavy debt loads while attending to vast investment needs, including for the green transition. this picture is made more troubling by high and rising public debt.

way higher than before the pandemic. even after the brief but significant fall in debt to g.d.p. as inflation lifted tphoplal g.d.p. -- nominal g.d.p. do please notice the shaded area on this chart. what it shows is that in severe but plausible adverse scenario, that could climb some 20 percentage points of g.d.p. above our baseline. what does it mean for fiscal space? to answer this question let's look at the share of government revenue consumed by interest payments. this is where high debt, high interest rates, and low growth come together.

because it is growth that generates the revenue governments need to function and invest. as that increases, fiscal space contracts. disproportionately more in low-income countries. not all debt burdens are made equal. and fiscal space keeps shrinking. just look at the frightening evolution of the interest to revenue ratio over time. we can immediately see how the tough spending choices have become tougher with with higher debt payments hanging on our heads. schools or climate. digital connectivity or roads

and bridges. this is what it comes down to. making this tough choices. and to make matters worse, we are living deeply troubled times. the peace event from the end of the cold war that andrea talked about, i experienced the colder side of it, is increasingly at risk. in a world of more wars and more insecurity, defense expenditures may well keep rising while egg budgets fall further behind the growing needs of developing countries. not only is development assistance too small, but major players driven by national security concerns are increasingly resorting to industrial policy and

protectionism. creating one trade restriction after another. going forward trade will not be the same engine of growth as before. it is the fracturing i warned of back in 2019, right from this very place. except it is worse. it is like pouring cold water on already luke warm world economy. what is my message today? my message today we can do better as the president of the world bank across the street often says, forecastses are not destiny. there is plenty we can and must

do to lift our growth potential, reduce that, and build a more resilient world economy. let me start with actions domestically. actions at home. governments must work to reduce that and reveal buffers for the next shock, which will surely come and make come sooner than we expect. budgets need to be consolidated. credibly. yet gradually in most countries. this will involve difficult choices on how to raise revenues and make spending more efficient while also making sure that policy actions are well explained to earn the trust of the people. here is the problem, though. fiscal restraints, let me ask you -- have you seen fiscal

restraint ever popular? yeah, we are going to have fiscal restrain. it is not popular, as a new paper by i.m.f. staff shows, it is only getting harder. so this is what we learned. across a wide sample of countries political discourse increasingly favors fiscal expansion. even the traditionally fiscally conservative political parties are developing a taste for borrow to spend. fiscal reforms are not easy, but they are necessary. and they can enhance opportunity and inclusion. and we know from experiencing countries they actually can be done with political will they can be done. when we look at the medium term where is the key? the key's growth to deliver jobs, tax revenues, fiscal

space, and that sustainability. very simple. the solution to low growth, high bet is high growth. soy when i go any place tkpweu what i hear is this aspiration, can we get our growth potential up? can we create more opportunities? the question is how. answer, we know it. focus on reforms. and we recognize there is no time to waste. first area of reforms, make job markets work for people. we confront a world of deeply uneven demography. surging young populations in someplaces. aging societies elsewhere. economic migration can help. but only up to a point. given the anxieties in many

countries. so, too, could supportive steps to help get more women into the workforce. but the most critical task is reforms to enhance skill sets and match the right people with the right jobs. second area, mobilized capital. there is abundance of it globally. plenty of money, but oven not in the right places or right types of investments. just think of all the money from all corners of the globe poured into liquid but less productive assets in a few measured financial centers. putting savings to work for maximum economic benefit requires policymakers to focus on eliminating barriers such as weak investment environments,

shallow capital markets, and financial sector oversight must not only ensure stability and resilience, but also encourage phraoudent -- prudent risk taking and value creation. by the way a message also for us at the front. third area, enhanced productivity. this is what yields more output per unit of input, and there are many ways to raise it from improving governments and institutions to cutting red tape, to harnessing the power of artificial intelligence. more and better spending on education and r&d. among advanced economies, those that lead on innovation show what works. venture capital industries, ecosystems that bring not only financing but knowledge, advice, and professional networks,

screening new ideas, identifying winners, feeding them from birth to graduation. and these lessons can be learned by everyone. what we have seen over the last eight years, tragically, is that the pace of reform has been slowing since the global financial crisis as this content has risen -- as discontent has risen. progress is possible. we have a new study that shows that resistance to reforms is oven driven by beliefs and misperceptions about the reforms thisselves, as well as the -- themselves, as well as the distributional effects of these reforms. how can we best develop them? well, two way dialogue with the public. with measures to mitigate the impact of those who risk losing out. we have learn how much this

matters over the last years. and as policymakers pursue reforms at home, they also need to look outward. there is so much countries can do together as members of the integrated economic community. each benefiting from its own comparative advantage. each benefiting from the forces of technology, trade, and capital mobility that have delivered an incredible degree of interconnectedness. yet we still live in a mistpr*uls fragmented world where national security has reason to the top of the list of concerns for many countries, has risen for many understandable and good reasons. this has happened before. but it never happened at the time of such economic co-dependency.

my argument is that we must not allow this reality to become an excuse to do nothing to prevent further fracturing of the global economy. quite the opposite. my appeal during this annual meetings will be, let's work together in an enlightened way to lift our collective prospects. let us not take the global tensions as given, but rather resolve to work to lower the geopolitical temperature and attend to the task that can only be tackled together. trade, which has lowered price, improved quality, created jobs. and is still showing remarkable resilience in the face of new barriers often flowing around them via third countries. but we need to