Virtual Course: Financial Programming and Policies

From February 8 to 19, 2021, the IMF and the JVI delivered a virtual course on Financial Programming and Policies (FPP), which featured a guest lecture by the IMF Resident Representative in Georgia, Mr. Selim Cakir, and discussed two Georgia case studies, one of which studied how the pandemic had affected the country.

In this course, 19 officials from nine countries worked together to identify macroeconomic imbalances and how to coordinate policies to correct them. For the first time in the virtual format, the course was offered with Russian interpretation. Mr. Cakir, the IMF Resident Representative in Georgia, shed light on how the pandemic had affected the Georgian economy—information participants used in working on the case study on the impact of COVID-19 on Georgia.

Extensive use of polls during the workshop sessions provided a useful structure for the course and facilitated a dialogue between lecturers and participants. Two Jeopardy review sessions assisted with reviewing the training materials at the end of each week, consolidating learning gains, and promoting interactivity and team building throughout. In their feedback, participants expressed their appreciation for these sessions and asked for even more such interactive elements in future courses. They also very much valued learning about macroeconomic linkages and highlighted their intention to use what they had learned in their work.

The next course on Financial Programming and Policies will be offered October 18–29, 2021.

Maria Arakelyan, Economist, JVI