MONROVIA, Montserrado- Former President Ellen Johnson has been appointed on the membership of International Monetary Fund’s External Advisory Group on Surveillance.

IMF Managing Director, Christine Lagarde announced on Tuesday the formation of two external advisory groups consisting of economic, financial, and public policy experts to inform the fund’s 2020 Comprehensive Surveillance Review or CSR. The second group is the External Advisory Group on Digital Technology.

Sirleaf was appointed along with other world-class experts, Alianz’s Chief Economic Advisor, Mohamed El-Erian; Economic Professor, Yiping Huang of Peking University’s National School of Development; Ford Foundation’s Professor of International Political Economy Harvard University, Dani Rodrik; Bruegel’s Director, Guntram Wolff; Gertrude Tumpel Gugerell who serves as a Consultant at the Austrian Institute of Economic Research; and Chile’s Former Finance Minister, Rodrigo Valdes.

According to an IMF release, the periodic review would seek to explore the IMF’s effectiveness in monitoring global economic developments and delivering policy advice to its 189-member countries.

“It will be forward-looking in nature and framed by the global macro-financial environment and other secular trends, including digital technology. The review will guide the IMF’s operational priorities through 2025,” the release revealed.

To accomplish this task, Lagarde said the CSR will take account of the strategic challenges and opportunities facing the IMF and its membership in ensuring sustained, balanced, and inclusive global growth.

She added that “The review will also assess the Fund’s capabilities and how it can innovate and adapt to continue to provide value to our members.”

According to her, the IMF is proud to have access to the expertise of two groups of eminent people, noting that, the first such group consists of thought leaders who will provide overall guidance on surveillance challenges facing the Fund and help to chart the course for new policy approaches to enhance economic prosperity and maintain global economic stability.

“And because the CSR will position the Fund’s surveillance function against the backdrop of the ongoing global technological transformation, we hope to richly benefit from leading thinkers and practitioners with experience in revolutionary industries in our second advisory group,” she added.

The release also noted that the External Advisory Group on Surveillance will serve as an independent check on staff analysis and will make recommendations that will be set out in the CSR. It will engage with IMF’s staff on the priorities and strategic direction of the review, and subsequently, inform the emerging findings and staff’s preliminary recommendations.

“The Group’s independent views will be communicated to the IMF Executive Board, which will ultimately establish the Fund’s surveillance priorities,” it stressed.

For its part, the External Advisory Group on Digital Technology will provide guidance on potential macroeconomic consequences and policy implications from important technological trends that are underway; and help the IMF develop new policy approaches in surveillance through the lens of technological change.

The two groups are expected to convene initially in November 2018, while the CSR is expected to be concluded by Spring 2020.

Featured photo courtesy of European Parliament