Page 94 - INVESTOPIA ENGLISH PR REPORT - International Part 2

3/11/24, 11:34 AM Small Business - Austin Daily Herald | Austin Daily Herald
One of the morning panel sessions considered macroeconomics in the context of where the
global economy is moving post COVID-19, how a successful COP28 is setting all countries on

a sound footing to tackle climate change, what the impact of the outcome of the U.S.
Presidential election will be; and why the global economy remains resilient to geopolitical

shocks.

Under the theme New Economic Frontiers Unveiled: Navigating the Unknown, the panel

discussed factors driving the new economy sectors, markets and the role of governments and
the private sector in optimising economic growth.

Participants in this session were Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, Executive Director of the

International Monetary Fund; Dr. François Bourguignon, Honorary President of the Paris
School of Economics; and Dr. Nathan Sheets, Chief Economist at Citi; and John Defterios,

Professor of Business Administration at NYU Abu Dhabi.

Dr. Mohieldin highlighted the necessity of paying attention to low and middle-income

countries in a changing global economic trend and cited Africa, where the continent grew for
many countries from being a low-income region to becoming middle-income.

"Middle-income countries and the middle class populations are being squeezed, and mid-sized

enterprises do not have the same support as SMEs," Dr. Mohieldin said.

"The middle needs investment, but [the situation] is not being discussed," he added, and went
further and underlined the urgent need for investment in human capital, education and
infrastructure." Dr. Mohieldin also noted that debt and development problems remain among

the most critical issues facing the global economy and are of great concern to investors
worldwide.

Dr. Bourguignon drew attention to the urgent need to take more steps to achieve carbon

neutrality to avoid the future repercussions that any additional delay in responding to climate
change could cause. He explained that the current framework in place for the manufacturing

and production of global goods needs to be replaced with a new one.

Meanwhile, Dr. Sheets expressed a more optimistic view about the global economy's health,

suggesting that an ever-advancing technology ecosystem has confronted many challenges the

world has faced in recent years.

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