A third of the world will into recession in 2023, Warns IMF. War & Europe's largest refugee wave.

1 year ago
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A third of the world will go into recession in 2023, says the IMF.
2023 will be ‘a difficult year for the world', warns IMF head.
Here's how Europe can support Ukrainian refugees, according to the IMF
The war in Ukraine has created Europe's largest refugee wave since World War II as almost 8 million people have been forced to flee the country, the IMF reports.

They can boost economic growth and tax revenue in European countries while helping to ease labour market tightness, it says.
However, host nations need to do more to support refugees, from providing affordable care services to increasing local government funding.
Almost 8 million refugees have fled Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February, Europe’s largest refugee wave since World War II, with the majority of those now in the European Union. These figures will increase depending on the war’s duration and severity.
Creating conditions in which refugees can return home once war ends and reconstruction starts is the overarching objective. However, refugees may stay in their adopted homelands for some time. With the right policies in place, this could be positive for host countries, not least because of labor shortages and aging populations.
Many of those who have fled have a different demographic profile than those in past refugee waves, with surveys in Germany, Moldova and Poland showing that most arrivals are children and women under 40.
Europe reacted with swift and decisive support, and 4.8 million people from Ukraine are registered for temporary protection in the EU or in similar national programs. The EU has removed many barriers refugees typically face by offering residency rights, work permits, and access to health care, schools, housing and banking services.

Supporting refugees comes with some short-term fiscal costs. Across the EU, these could reach 30 billion euros to 37 billion euros in the first year, or about 0.2 percent of gross domestic product, as we noted in our latest Regional Economic Outlook, published in October. Countries with the largest shares of refugees, including the Czech Republic, Estonia, Moldova, and Poland, could incur fiscal costs this year equal to about 1 percent of GDP. The larger share of women and children will result in more spending on childcare, education, and health care services.
Over the medium term, however, refugees could boost economic growth and tax revenue while helping ease current labor market tightness in some parts of Europe. We estimate that Ukrainian refugees could raise the size of Europe’s labor force by some 0.6 percent by the end of 2022, and by 2.7 percent in the countries with the largest numbers of arrivals, where Ukrainian refugees will ease labor shortages.

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