Lilia Aleksanyan is an Economist at ADB’s Central and West Asia Department. Before joining ADB, she worked at the French Ministry of Finance, Banque de France and taught at Sciences Po as well as the University of the Philippines. Her current work focuses on macroeconomic outlook analysis, policy advice and technical assistance related to international trade and economic
Economic constraints and scenarios
April 29, 2021
There are some important policy issues that need immediate attention but do not get the priority they deserve in policy discussions about the future direction of the economy. This is because targets relating to the current IMF programme such as the size of the fiscal deficit or the debt-to-GDP ratio top the policy agenda as does the country’s struggle with the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic.
One way of compensating for short-term thinking is to create a ‘Futures Thinking and Foresights Unit’ of the type examined by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in a recent report. The ‘Futures Thinking and Foresights Unit’ should induct experts in agricultural development and water resources management apart from economists and public health experts (the last because the age of the pandemic will persist for some years).