The Covid-19 pandemic has unleashed a health and economic crisis. Countries are providing exceptional support to families and firms and suffering significant losses in public revenues. Debt ratios are rising. Getting fiscal policy right and maintaining financial stability will be key to ensuring a return to growth and avoid a lost decade in Latin America and the Caribbean. A … [Read more...] about Avoiding a New Lost Decade for Latin America and the Caribbean
Oscar Valencia
Oscar Valencia is a Lead Specialist at the fiscal division of the IDB. Prior to joining the IDB, Oscar was General Director of Macroeconomic Policy at the Ministry of Finance of Colombia. He has served as technical secretary of the Independent Committee for the Colombian Fiscal Rule and member of several managing boards in Colombian companies such as Colpensiones (Colombian public defined pension system), Coljuegos (Colombian National Gaming Regulator), as well as Interim Managing Director of Fogafin (Financial institutions guarantee fund). He was also researcher at the Central Bank of Colombia and at the National Planning Department of Colombia. Previously he was a consultant on fiscal issues at the IDB Research Department. Oscar’s research interests are in the fields of fiscal policy and macroeconomics, mainly emerging economies. He has published in several academic journals on issues related to macroeconomic policy. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics with Honors and M.Phil in Mathematical Economics from Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), and B.A and M.A in economics with Honors from Universidad Nacional de Colombia.