Foresight Africa at the 2026 Spring Meetings: 3 insights from the World Bank on successfully navigating global economic shocks

LANDRY SIGNÉ: Hello, I am Landry Signé, a senior fellow in the Global Economy and Development Program and the Africa Growth Initiative at the Brookings Institution. Welcome to the Foresight Africa podcast, where I engage with distinguished leaders in policy, business, academia, and civil society who share their unique insights and innovative solutions to Africa’s challenges while highlighting opportunities to advance engagement between Africa and the world. 

Today we are on the sidelines of the 2026 Spring Meetings organized by the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund. Twice a year, these international financial institutions bring together the world’s most prominent figures in the field of development finance, including central bankers, ministers of finance, heads of global and regional financial institutions, corporate CEOs, entrepreneurs, and civil society leaders. I am joined now by Ayhan Kose, the deputy chief economist of the World Bank Group as well, of course, as one of our distinguished nonresident senior fellows at the Brookings Institution. 

Welcome to the Brookings Institution Foresight Africa podcast show! 

AYHAN KOSE: Thank you, Landry. Nice to be here.  

SIGNÉ: I am delighted to have you join me during this very busy week, and I truly appreciate you taking the time to share your insights with our audience. 

As the Spring Meetings conclude, amid rising economic fragmentation and shifting geopolitical dynamics, what are the most consequential takeaways for policymakers and which signals should the world be watching most closely in the months ahead?  

KOSE: Yeah, that’s a wonderful question. Let me mention three highlights I felt throughout the meetings. The first one is that when you think about the recurrence of shocks around us, especially these global shocks, they are becoming basically constant. They’re no longer happening once in five years, 10 years. They’re happening every year. 

And I think the latest example of that is the conflict in the Middle East, the fallout of the closure of Hormuz, consequences for global commodity markets, especially energy markets, and of course – from the perspective of the World Bank – the implications for emerging markets and developing economies.  

I think there has been a robust discussion on these issues. I think policymakers, the broader public, and the development community now have a better understanding of the near- and medium-term impacts and what to expect next. The bottom line is that the duration and depth of the conflict will determine ultimately what type of oil price we’ll see, and how growth expectations and inflation expectations will change down the road. 

In that context, the second important message is related to policies: what the global community should do and what the national policymakers need to think about going forward. On the part of global community, obviously, some things are very clear. We need to find ways to repair the damage, especially in war-torn areas. Make sure we are providing the necessary support when it comes to food insecurity, because that’s going to be an important challenge if we see sustained increase in fertilizer prices. For a number of countries, including those countries in Africa, suffering from debt-related challenges, this type of shock will make those challenges even more pronounced. 

So the global community needs to think about how it’s going to bring concessional financing, how it’s going to bring debt relief. Whenever these types of shocks hit, the countries that are most vulnerable end to be the most affected. So above and beyond we need to think about those and how they’re going to be helped. I think there was robust discussion on these issues as well.  

On the national front, there is the tendency to provide fiscal support when these types of shocks take place. I think there’s a very clear message that fiscal support should be temporary and should be targeted, especially to reach the vulnerable segments of society. It should not be blanket support, open-ended support.  

The second important point is that in that context, countries need to avoid export restrictions, need to avoid price controls, and need to remember that while the crisis sooner or later will end, the impact of the crisis will be felt over the medium term. 

Now the third important observation is the following: We at the World Bank pay attention to, of course, creating jobs and promoting economic growth. But there are other important issues. For example, this week, we spent quite a bit of time talking about water security, making sure that the billions around the world in developing economies have secure access to clean water. This is actually all the more important given the developments in the Middle East and potential consequences of those developments for water security. 

Digitalization and the importance of bringing digital technologies to the masses is going to be critical. We discussed that issue. And the broader issue of electrification, especially in Africa, is very important for us. 

But, when you think about the broader challenge we see, given that we are basically facing a very large wave of young people coming to job market over the next decade, is how we can create jobs. How we can improve infrastructure investment, find ways to improve institutions and regulatory regimes. And finally, how we can mobilize private capital.  

So in a nutshell, number one, the understanding that these shocks are increasingly persistent. They are there. We need to make economies more resilient. 

Number two, there are some do’s and don’ts of policies. We need to internalize those. 

Number three, yes, these shocks happen, but there are broader development goals related to jobs, related to water security, related to digitalization. And those things we need to keep in mind and push forward.  

SIGNÉ: Powerful insights. Looking beyond the Spring Meetings, what will it take to translate today’s commitments into measurable on-the-ground impact, and how can institutions ensure accountability, speed, and scale in delivering results?  

KOSE: I think the intent, that’s where the rubber hits the road. We make decisions here. We have forums. People talk to each other. There’s good exchange of ideas. But impact and implementation are key. And here there are three important, observations again: 

The first one, unless we translate what we learned this week and what decisions we made into concrete results on-the-ground, we are not going to make much progress. And here policies are critical. Ownership is critical. And ownership of policymakers basically implementing what’s necessary. And implementation does not necessarily mean passing the laws. Implementation means really taking action and then seeing the results. 

The second important point, very important in the context of our work program, is that we need to bring the public entities and the private sector together. Of course, you know, international financial institutions at the regional level, at the global level have to play a role, but unless we bring the private actors, it’s going to be very difficult to have the scale of financing available. And it’s going to be, of course, very difficult to have impact. When you think about, for example, the jobs challenge, the public institutions are not going to create the jobs necessary. You need a private sector to create the jobs. 

And finally, I think given the technological change we see, it’s all the more important we have more attention on transparency, especially the transparency of data and availability of data and using that data very effectively. Because we would like to get from point A to point B. But we also would like to make sure we are able to measure our progress. That’s only possible if we are transparent in what we are doing – not only us as an institution but policymakers and governments as well. And that will require being transparent when it comes to the data we collect and we share. 

So in a nutshell, as you said, there was good debate. A number of prominent actors came together from the public side, the private side, the institutional side. And now, we need to make sure we are making progress on-the-ground. That’s going to depend first on policies. That’s going to depend on, second, bringing different actors together, but especially private sector. And third, that’s going to depend on our ability to measure what we are doing that’s related to transparency and that’s related to our data agenda.  

SIGNÉ: What a wonderful way to conclude. Thank you so much for joining me today and for sharing your insights and words of wisdom.  

KOSE: Thank you, Landry.