This training activity will be delivered as part of the Strategic Planning and Budgeting (SPB) project, funded by the European Union. The overall objective of the project is to contribute to strengthening of beneficiary countries’ capacity to design and implement medium-term macro-fiscal policy.
What you will learn
The 5-day workshop, which will be delivered by the Joint Vienna Institute (JVI) in cooperation with the IMF, aims at strengthening participants' expertise in assessing a country's macroeconomic situation and in evaluating economic policies.
The workshop will provide an overview of diagnostic tools and techniques to assess the stance of fiscal and monetary policy (including cyclical adjustments) and explore the impact of these policies on the economy. The course will also address medium-term prospects, such as the sustainability of public debt, exchange rate assessment, and potential vulnerabilities in the financial sector. The learning objectives of the course center on familiarizing participants with practical diagnostic and analytical tools, and on strengthening skills useful for preparing various EC surveillance reports.
How you will benefit
The workshop will build capacities in the description and analysis of the current macroeconomic framework and developments that are needed for macro-fiscal planning, as documented for example in EC surveillance reports (i.e. EFP/PEP). It will also contribute to an improved understanding of economic growth, monetary and fiscal policy, public debt, external vulnerabilities, exchange rate sustainability, and financial sector developments.
Who should attend
Project beneficiaries are the EU candidates and potential candidates covered by the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance 2007-2013, in particular the institutions in charge of strategic planning and budgeting processes (mainly ministries of finance), as well as the budget users (in particular budget-intensive line ministries) and, to some degree, central planning authorities, central banks, and macroeconomic research institutes. This workshop is designed for mid- to senior-level government officials who are involved in policy design or in diagnosing the macroeconomic situation for the preparation of strategic planning documents.
Your contributions
The workshop will be highly participatory. Participants will have the opportunity to share experience and knowledge.
Language of the course will be ENGLISH. Translation will not be provided.
Faculty
Norbert Funke
Norbert Funke was appointed Director of the Joint Vienna Institute (JVI) in September 2012. He has been a staff member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) since 2000. Most recently, he headed the Global Partnerships Division of the Institute for Capacity Development, overseeing the IMF's donor relations. Previously, he was an Advisor in the Office of Technical Assistance Management and a Division Chief in the African Department, where he also served as mission chief for Mauritius, Seychelles, Burkina Faso, Senegal, and the West African Economic and Monetary Union. Before joining the IMF, he worked mostly on advanced and transition economies, as head of the financial institutions research group at McKinsey & Company in Frankfurt, and as economist at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, the Kiel Institute of World Economics, and in the banking sector. Norbert, a German national, holds a doctorate (Ph.D.) from the University of Cologne.
Adam Gersl
Adam Gersl joined the JVI as a Senior Economist in June 2012. Before assuming this position, he was Deputy Director of the Financial Stability Department in the Czech National Bank where he focused on macroprudential policy, analyses of banks and financial markets, banking regulation and stress testing. He was actively involved in technical assistance projects under the IMF and UNDP and acted as a representative in various international working groups and task forces in Europe. He also worked in the Czech central bank as a Senior Economist in the Economic Research Department, as an Adviser to the Vice-Governor and as an Assistant to the Governor. In 2004-2006 he worked for the European Central Bank. He studied in Prague, Konstanz and Freiburg and holds a Ph.D. in economics from the Charles University in Prague.
Mikhail Pranovich
Mikhail Pranovich has been an economist at the Joint Vienna Institute since October 2011. He previously headed the Monetary Analysis and Forecasting Division at the National Bank of Belarus, worked as a Research Fellow at Cambridge Finance and as an economist at the Resident Representative Office of the IMF in Minsk and the Regional IMF Office for Central and Eastern Europe in Warsaw. His primary expertise and research interests are in the areas of monetary policy, applied macroeconometrics, financial econometrics, asset returns predictability and investment portfolio allocation. Mikhail holds a Master's Degree in Mathematics and Economics from the Belarusian State University; an M.Sc. in Economics and Finance from the University of Warwick, UK; and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Cambridge, UK.
Application procedure
Application Closing Date: Dec 20,2013
*For the SPB project the costs of 2 selected participants per beneficiary country are covered by the EU funding.
