Tuesday, Oct 22, 2024 | 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM
Location: Meeting Halls A&B HQ1-3-430A&B
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OVERVIEW
The panel will discuss “Asia’s Revenue challenge” with a focus on how revenue mobilization should help address development challenges faced by countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Public debt across countries in Asia has risen significantly, as they have had to contend with multiple shocks addressing which has necessitated the use of fiscal support. Public debt levels in Asia-Pacific are on average 50 percent of GDP higher relative to 2007 among advanced economies and 15-20 percent of GDP higher among developing economies as shown in a recent study by IMF staff. At the same time, they also face rising fiscal pressures from an ageing population, climate change, and to just meet their development goals. To meet this challenge countries in the region, many of which suffer from low intake of tax revenues, need to scale up domestic revenue mobilization. In general, tax revenues tend to be lower in Asia than in other regions of the World. This raises a host of issues, which the panel could address. For instance, what are the opportunities and challenges to raise tax revenues and improve revenue administration in the Asia-Pacific region? How can governments overcome the political hurdles that often accompany revenue-enhancing tax reforms? What role can digitalization and good governance play in this regard?
MODERATOR
Krishna Srinivasan
Director, Asia and Pacific Department, IMF
Krishna Srinivasan is the Director of the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department (APD). In this capacity, he oversees the institution’s work on all countries in the Asia-Pacific region. He was previously a Deputy Director in the Western Hemisphere Department (WHD), where he supervised the institution’s work on several countries in the Americas, including Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador and the island economies of the Caribbean, the department’s research activities, and its flagship product, Regional Economic Outlook (REO) for Latin America and the Caribbean. He also co-edited several books, including Brazil—Boom, Bust and the Road to Recovery; Unleashing Growth and Strengthening Resilience in the Caribbean; and Challenges for Central Banking: Perspectives from Latin America. Prior to joining WHD, Krishna was in the European Department, where he served as the IMF’s mission chief for the United Kingdom and Israel, and before that in the Research Department, where he led the IMF’s work on the G-20 in the context of the global financial crisis. In the context of the work on the G20, he edited a book titled Global Rebalancing: A Roadmap for Economic Recovery. Krishna has been with the IMF since 1994 and has served in several departments across the institution. He secured his PhD in International Finance from Indiana University and a post-graduate degree from the Delhi School of Economics, India, and has published several papers both at the IMF and in leading academic journals.
SPEAKERS
Vitor Gaspar
Director, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF
Mr. Gaspar is Director of the Fiscal Affairs Department at the IMF. He joined in 2014. Before that, he was Portuguese Minister of State and Finance from 2011–13, and has held various positions in European and Portuguese institutions, including head of BEPA at the European Commission, director-general of research at the European Central Bank, director of Economic Studies and Statistics at the Central Bank of Portugal, and Director of Economic Studies at the Portuguese Ministry of Finance.
Mr. Gaspar holds a Ph.D. and a post-doctoral agregado in Economics from Universidade Nova de Lisboa; he graduated from Universidade Católica Portuguesa.
Ajay Seth
Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, India
Mr. Ajay Seth is the Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance. He belongs to the Indian Administrative Service, 1987 batch, Karnataka Cadre. He has 33 years of experience in the domains of public finance and social sector administration dealing with matters related to budget, tax policy, foreign investments, bilateral and multilateral financial cooperation, development financing, and public-private-partnerships. Apart from heading the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation, Mr Seth has held various positions in the Karnataka government including additional chief secretary of health and family welfare and commissioner of commercial taxes. He was also an adviser with the Asian Development Bank. He is a recipient of Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration in 2013, being a member of the team for “transformation of commercial tax administration in Karnataka”. Mr Seth holds B. Tech. in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA.
Hon. Kaleb Udui Jr
Minister of Finance, Palau
Hon. Kaleb Udui Jr., Minister of Finance. Mr. Kaleb Udui Jr. has been the Minister of Finance from February 2021. Previously, he served as Director of Budget under Ministry of Finance and as the President of National Development Bank of Palau. He holds an MBA from University of Hawaii and a Bachelor’s degree in finance and economics from University of Guam.
