Category: 3. Business

Every morning, Zhou sifts his way through the crowds of hopeful workers, factory owners and snake oil sellers that throng the open air labour market in Datang, Guangzhou in the hope of finding suitable work.

Wading into a crowd of hopefuls surrounding a clothing factory manager perched on a bicycle one day last month, he picks up the half-finished lace top on display, weighs it in his hands and shakes his head: the pay per item is too low for a work that intricate.

Zhou, who declined to give a full name, is one of at least 200mn people in China working in the “gig economy”, a growing, informal sector of the labour market that spans everything from delivery drivers to construction workers. And while China’s fast fashion industry has long relied on nimble day labourers like Zhou, analysts say the increasing use of short-term labour in manufacturing is harming the country’s human capital and putting workers at risk.

“We’re a new generation of workers with a new generation of thinking,” says Zhou, a wiry and moustachioed worker in his 30s who moved to the garment production hub of Guangzhou eight years ago from the central province of Hubei. Although more flexible, he ends up working 12 hours a day, often seven days a week. “We wake up, work, finish work, sleep: it’s a two-point line.”

Officially, Chinese companies are only supposed to employ a maximum 10 per cent of their staff on a short-term basis. But analysts say that in recent years, the proportion of temporary workers in the manufacturing sector has crept up, making life more precarious for a huge swath of the workforce and undermining labourers’ ability to learn new skills.

For instance, a study by Peking University academic Zhang Dandan estimated that there were approximately 40mn short-term workers in the manufacturing sector by 2024, or about 31 per cent of the total. Previous surveys from five provinces suggested that the proportion of flexible workers was 20 per cent in 2017, after exhibiting a “significant upward trend” in the previous seven years, she wrote.

Many Chinese factory workers are employed in long-term, full-time roles and sometimes remain at individual factories for decades. Under such conditions, they are entitled to workplace and health insurance, protection from unfair dismissal, a degree of training and, after a certain period of service, retirement and other benefits.

Hiring temporary workers, either through contract labour agencies or via open air markets such as the one in Datang, can give factory managers more flexibility and lower costs by reducing payments for training and other benefits. For workers, it can mean greater choice over where to work and, in the short term, higher pay, as many receive bonuses for completing stints at each plant.

We wake up, work, finish work, sleep: it’s a two-point line

But it also leaves them exposed. Most day workers and many agency labourers do not have contracts or workplace insurance and are clustered in the most low-skilled part of the production process, such as the final assembly of electronics.

Analysts warn that the funnelling of large numbers of workers into tedious jobs that offer little chance of training or career advancement could create a skills deficit in the future and impede social mobility.

“Contract labour becomes this very convenient way of just having this flexibility without the risk of any long-term commitments, without the risks of paying compensation, or the difficulties of firing people,” says Dmitri Kessler, founder of the Economic Rights Institute.

Kessler says that using short-term labourers in electronics manufacturing also allows factories quickly to replace workers hurt when performing physically arduous tasks or exposed to harmful activities. “From our perspective, it’s extremely problematic,” he says.

Moreover, because hourly wages for temporary roles are often higher than for fixed work — though still cost the employer less given reduced additional benefits — many workers end up opting for short-term roles with little prospect of advancement and do not care about the companies they work for.

“You develop a kind of a dependence on the most base level of employment . . . that has an impact on the productivity of the workers themselves,” says Kessler.

Jenny Chan, a sociologist at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, says that some factories can employ as many as 70 per cent of their workers on a temporary basis during peak seasons, although an absolute number is difficult to pin down. “This is definitely a more precarious, very fluid form of labour,” she says.

The proportion of workers employed on a temporary basis has increased since about 2008, following both the global financial crisis and China’s introduction of a stricter labour law that offers greater protections to full-time workers, she says.

As the growing usage started to attract greater government scrutiny, some factories turned to the country’s network of vocational schools to send trainees or interns to meet their staffing needs. Renewed scrutiny of the use of vulnerable student workers has only pushed the practice underground, she says. “They have been continuing the practice . . . they just made it more difficult to identify.”

Mo, a temporary garment factory worker in his 30s who declined to give a full name, says he went through a variety of short-term roles in the services sector before arriving in the Datang garment manufacturing district to find work.

Nowadays, he adds, outside of the most skilled jobs, lots of employment in China is offered on a flexible basis.

“You just make yourself OK from one day to the next. But if you want to get married, have a family, you definitely can’t think like this,” Mo says of his life as a day labourer while he peruses yellow posters advertising roles in Datang. “Doing this kind of work is a rotten state of affairs.”

In a factory complex in Noida, an industrial hub outside New Delhi, Vinod Sharma, the managing director of an Indian electronic component maker, is trying to improve the skills of a small part of India’s vast but poorly trained workforce.

“We teach people from zero,” says Sharma at Deki Electronics, which supplies capacitors to an array of industries in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

Even day-to-day life in the workplace has to be taught, he says. “We have to go to the extent of teaching them how to walk on the stairs, how to walk in the corridor, because they have never been in a building like this,” says Sharma.

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi focused on boosting Swadeshi — locally made products — as punitive US tariffs squeeze export industries and threaten to put a damper on the world’s fastest-growing large economy, the opportunities for India’s workforce of more than 600mn have rarely been greater.

Yet government officials and leaders in industries from services to manufacturing to energy lament a critical shortfall of practical training, digital literacy and soft skills.

Modi has said that “skill development and employment are crucial needs in India”, at a time when he is luring in multinationals such as Apple, as he seeks to establish India as a manufacturing and services hub to rival the likes of China.

The UN’s most recent estimates from June have put the country’s population at 1.46bn, comfortably ahead of China’s 1.41bn, with nearly 68 per cent of Indians falling within the working age group of 15 to 64.

But only 4.4 per cent of its workforce aged 15 to 29 is formally skilled, according to India’s finance ministry, while the skill development ministry acknowledged that only just over half of India’s graduates have the “skills needed by a modern economy”.

This is “significantly lower than other large Asian economies”, noted a World Bank report last year, adding that “although India’s education system is of high quality, the supply of skilled labour is mediocre”.

According to the International Labour Organization, India’s “industry involvement in training is still low” with only 36 per cent of companies participating in upskilling programmes, against 85 per cent in China, 52 per cent in Russia, and 51 per cent in Brazil.

This year Modi kicked off several training and internship schemes, including a flagship government project with India’s top 500 public and private companies — including Jindal, Reliance and Tata — aimed at addressing the yawning skills gap. It has a five-year goal of placing 10mn young workers in industries including energy, automotive, food and banking.

Anil Bahuguna, chief of skill development at state-run energy company ONGC, which is participating in one of the government’s programmes, says that when it comes to oil and gas, the available labour force has “low technical exposure to field machinery and this adversely impacts the time and cost of a project”.

As India “navigates rapid technological and economic change, skills gaps, cited by 65 per cent of organisations as a major barrier, threaten to slow progress”, the government said when it rolled out “India Skills Accelerator” this year, the latest in a string of training programmes aimed at boosting employability.

These programmes form part of a drive to move away from India’s traditional placement landscape where workers used to get basic training through jobs in small and medium-sized enterprises.

“India’s skilling infrastructure has always been very, very small,” says Pronab Sen, an economist and former principal economic adviser to India’s Planning Commission, adding that as the economy expands and grows more sophisticated, “we need to meet the demands of the organised sector, the big companies”.

Abhinav Baliyan, managing director of Educator Extraordinaire, a company that runs vocational training centres in Jharkhand, says India has been unable to cash in fully on its “demographic dividend” of a vast growing working-age population.

This is partly because of a poorly skilled workforce. Four-in-five employers have reported difficulty finding the skilled talent they need in 2025, says recruiter Manpower, more than the global average, even as India has a higher demand for workers with IT and data skills than in China and Singapore.

While the Confederation of Indian Industry estimates that 10mn to 12mn young people enter the labour market annually, some 300mn farm and non-farm workers are already in need of being skilled, reskilled or upskilled to “achieve higher productivity”, says Manish Sabharwal of recruitment company Teamlease.

There are more people that need skills than what we can actually offer in general

But the growing population could also put further pressure on fast-skilling the workforce. For Sourav Roy, chief of corporate social responsibility at Tata Steel, “there are more people that need skills than what we can actually offer in general” in India.

Rituparna Chakraborty, a board member at the Goa Institute of Management, says: “I don’t think we’ll ever have enough skilled people because India is in a position where more and more jobs will come dragging more people into the workforce, which means skilled workforce demand will keep on going up.”

Online skilling platform upGrad’s chair Ronnie Screwvala says that at the moment, India has a large pool of well-trained engineers and graduate-level workers in technology and computer sciences, but not enough focus has been put on practical skills. Indians now need training that “can offer immediate relevance”.

That much is clear to Ayush Tiwari, a graduate in biotechnology and beneficiary of the latest government programme. He is now an intern at the waste management unit of listed chemical company DCM Shriram in the state of Uttar Pradesh: “In the past six months, I have learned practically what I yearned for when I was studying.”

Back in Noida, 18-year-old Sachin Kumar, who travelled 700km to take a placement at what Deki calls its “Garden of Knowledge” training centre, is one beneficiary of India’s latest push on skills development. “I am not just learning to be a machine operator, but pretty much how to do anything at all,” he says.

MJ Song, a South Korean working mother with a four-year-old son, considers herself lucky because she has been able to work for one company for more than 15 years without her career being hindered by starting a family.

Her employer, a unit of Shinhan Financial Group, offers generous pay and benefits such as baby bonuses, childcare allowances and flexible working, allowing her to balance work and family life in a country notorious for long working hours and rigid corporate cultures.

Song took two years of maternity leave after her son was born then worked for four hours a day for a year, receiving half her normal salary. Shinhan also allows women to work two hours fewer a day during pregnancy and employees with children in their first two years of primary school to start work an hour later.

“I am satisfied with my job as the salary is high with a lot of benefits for working moms,” says Song. “The workload is heavy, but my PC gets automatically turned off after 6pm. It has been relatively easy to balance work and family life, while most of my friends have quit their jobs after childbirth.”

Korean financial groups have been one of the most coveted workplaces among female graduates, thanks to their competitive pay and childcare-related perks, despite technology causing wider cuts to the industry’s workforce.

Financial groups are also notable for their relatively high number of female workers in the male-dominated, manufacturing-driven economy. Female workers account for more than half of the financial sector workforce, about double the average in South Korea’s 500 biggest companies by sales, according to research group Leaders Index.

Labour expert Bae Kyu-shik says: “Financial companies have become good employers for women, thanks to their high pay and strong internal welfare benefits.”

Women boast an average 14.5 years of service at Korean banks versus men’s 15.4 years, while women’s annual salaries average Won96.9mn ($66,100), compared with Won128.4mn for men, Leaders Index data shows. Similar to the manufacturing sector, most Korean bank staff retire in their mid-fifties, but they usually receive generous severance pay and packages that amount to several years’ salary if they retire early.

Foreign lenders in Korea, such as Citibank and Standard Chartered, also offer flexible work for parents with young children, reduced hours for pregnant women and longer paternity leave. They also offer baby bonuses, although these are less generous than those from local counterparts.

As the country addresses the world’s lowest fertility rate of 0.75 per cent, Korean banks have been at the forefront of the government-led initiative to solve it by offering various childcare benefits. The demographic crisis poses a huge challenge for sustaining economic growth and providing pensions and healthcare for an ageing population.

But economic and cultural discrimination means many Korean women remain reluctant to marry and have children. South Korea has the highest gender pay gap among rich countries, with women paid almost a third less than men, despite their above-average level of tertiary education, reports the OECD.

There are equal opportunities for hiring, but they are not equal positions

South Korea’s male-oriented corporate culture and working hours — some of the longest in the OECD — remain a barrier to women’s labour participation, with more than 15 per cent of married women quitting jobs after having children, according to government data, while those who keep working struggle to progress in their careers.

The government has been spending heavily to counter the low birth rate, with financial groups going beyond national requirements by offering baby bonuses worth tens of thousands of dollars and up to three years of maternity leave, as well as flexible working for parents with children aged below 10 at school. Statutory leave is up to a year and a half.

Banks such as KB Kookmin and Woori last year started offering up to three years of “parental resignation” programmes for employees with children aged below seven, on top of a two-year childcare leave, with the guarantee of returning to the same position.

There are limits, however. Despite the government policy to support paternity leave — a father with a child under eight can take up to a year and a half off — men taking the leave remains at a single-digit rate at most banks because of social norms that still regard childcare and household duties as a woman’s job.

Despite the high proportion of female workers, few are at executive level in the financial sector, as most women work in retail banking, rather than higher-margin businesses such as corporate and investment banking, which are seen as better for promotions.

“There are equal opportunities for hiring, but they are not equal positions,” says Park Ju-geun, head of Leaders Index, noting there is still a 30 per cent pay gap in banking. “Women still don’t have many opportunities for promotions as they are barred from key operations like strategic planning, sales, marketing and treasury departments.”

The number of female executives is increasing after legislation in 2022 banned single-gender boards at companies with assets of more than Won2tn. But women still hold only 12.7 per cent of executive positions at South Korean banks, although this is higher than the 8.1 per cent average across the country’s 500 biggest companies, according to Leaders Index.

There are signs of improvement, however. Internet-only lender Toss Bank and the South Korean unit of Citibank both have female chief executives, while some banks offer leadership and mentoring programmes for women.

“Women are often hired for supplementary positions, so most fail to move up the ladder,” says Oh Hee-jung, deputy head of the Korean Finance & Service Workers’ Union. “Like in other sectors, the glass ceiling still exists in the financial sector, with most women struggling to shatter it.”

November 20, 2025 – Lenovo Group Limited (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY), together with its subsidiaries (‘the Group’), today reported record results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2025/26, with overall group revenue reaching an all-time high of US$20.5 billion, up 15% year-on-year. Adjusted net income[1] grew 25% year-on-year to US$512 million, and adjusted net income margin expanded to 2.5%, driven by higher revenues. Together, these reflect the strength of the Group’s operational performance as they exclude the impact of non-cash fair value loss on warrants, notional interest on convertible bonds, and other non-cash items.

The Group delivered double-digit year-on-year revenue growth across all main business groups and sales geographies. The AI-related revenue mix increased by 13 percentage points year-on-year, accounting for 30% of the Group’s total revenue this quarter. The growth was driven by high-double-digit revenue growth in AI Servers and triple-digit revenue growth in AI PCs, AI smartphones, and AI Services.

These results are a testament to the Group’s clear strategy, operational excellence, and relentless innovation, reflecting not only the strength of its business today but also the resilience of its unique ‘Global/Local’ model and the vision of a company built to lead in the AI era. With the initial wave of infrastructure build-out in the AI era, the trend is evolving toward a more human- and enterprise-centric phase, as large language models become commoditized and user priorities shift toward personalization and private domain. This evolution is unlocking new opportunities across devices, hybrid infrastructure, and tailored solutions, and enabling the Group to expand its leadership in Personal AI and further deliver its value proposition in Enterprise AI.

As the macroeconomic environment stabilizes, Lenovo remains committed to executing its Hybrid AI strategy and investing in innovation to deliver sustainable long-term returns to shareholders and make AI truly personalized.

Lenovo’s Board of Directors declared an interim dividend of 8.50 HK cents per share.

Chairman and CEO quote – Yuanqing Yang:

“Capitalizing on the AI democratization trend, and thanks to our clear strategy, operational excellence and relentless innovation, Lenovo delivered another quarter of record performance, while making important progress in both Personal AI and Enterprise AI. We will continue to leverage our unique Global/Local model to navigate uncertainties and capture the tremendous Hybrid AI opportunities, and in doing so not only deliver sustainable long-term returns to our shareholders, but also make AI truly personalized for every individual and every enterprise.”

Financial Highlights:

Personal AI: Innovation strengthened market leadership, enriching ecosystem

Lenovo is meeting growing consumer demand for hyper-personalization with its Personal AI strategy, ‘One Personal AI, Multiple Devices’. Launching globally at Tech World on January 6, 2026, Lenovo’s Personal AI super agent will seamlessly orchestrate across wearable and ambient devices to perceive, learn, and act like its user – ultimately becoming a true Personal AI Twin.

 Intelligent Devices Group (IDG) as the core engine for Lenovo’s Personal AI strategy, delivered strong Q2 FY25/26 results:

• Overall IDG revenue grew nearly 12% year-on-year to US$15.1
• PC market leadership was strengthened with a record 25.6% market share, further widening the lead over the number two player.
• The PCs and smart devices business maintained its industry-leading profitability, driven by solid performance from high-margin segments.
• AI PC penetration accelerated, accounting for 33% of all Lenovo PC shipments. Lenovo ranks #1 globally in the Windows AI PC segment with a 31.1% market share. Motorola smartphones delivered record volumes.
• AI device momentum is particularly encouraging, with revenue mix from AI devices up 17 points year-on-year to 36%.

Enterprise AI: Unleashing Hybrid AI Advantage, from infrastructure to solutions and services

Lenovo is advancing its Enterprise AI strategy to help customers turn data and knowledge into actionable insights and value. The Group is well-positioned to drive Enterprise AI transformation and develop an AI Twin for customers. The shift from cloud-based AI training to on-premises and edge inferencing is expected to fuel greater growth in AI devices and AI applications, further expanding the company’s total addressable market.

 Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG) as the key driver of Lenovo’s hybrid infrastructure, delivered strong growth in Q2 FY25/26:

• Revenue grew 24% year-on-year to US$4.1 billion through the continued strong execution of its CSP (Cloud Service Provider) and Enterprise SMB dual strategy.
• CSP business delivered record fiscal Q2 revenue.
• The AI infrastructure business revenue achieved high double-digit year-on-year growth with a strong
• Revenue from industry-leading liquid cooling solutions grew 154% year-on-year.
• By optimizing Enterprise SMB business models to better serve the distinct needs of enterprise and SMB customers, the Group is confident that the infrastructure business will return to profitable growth soon.

 Solutions and Services Group (SSG) delivered solid growth in Q2 FY25/26, providing solutions and services for enterprises that leverage the Lenovo Hybrid AI Advantage:

• SSG’s overall revenue grew 18% year-on-year to US$2.6 billion – marking 18 consecutive quarters of year-on-year revenue growth.
• Operating margin was up 1.9 points year-on-year to over 22%.
• Revenue from Support Services accelerated with double-digit year-on-year growth; Managed services and Projects and Solutions revenue mix was up 1 point year-on-year to almost 60% of SSG’s total revenue.
• SSG is unleashing the power of Lenovo Hybrid AI Advantage, combining the AI factory, AI services, and the AI library of repeatable, scalable AI solutions for selected vertical industries and horizontal functions.

Corporate and ESG highlights

Achievements, announcements, and notable commitments over the past quarter include:

[1] Note on adjusted net income:Adjusted measure was defined as financial metric by excluding net fair value changes on financial assets at fair value through profit or loss, amortization of intangible assets resulting from mergers and acquisitions, impairment and write-off of intangible assets, dilution gain on interest in an associate, fair value change on derivative financial liabilities relating to warrants, and notional interest on convertible bonds; and the corresponding income tax effects, if any.

About Lenovo

Lenovo is a US$69 billion revenue global technology powerhouse, ranked #196 in the Fortune Global 500, and serving millions of customers every day in 180 markets. Focused on a bold vision to deliver Smarter Technology for All, Lenovo has built on its success as the world’s largest PC company with a full-stack portfolio of AI-enabled, AI-ready, and AI-optimized devices (PCs, workstations, smartphones, tablets), infrastructure (server, storage, edge, high performance computing and software defined infrastructure), software, solutions, and services. Lenovo’s continued investment in world-changing innovation is building a more equitable, trustworthy, and smarter future for everyone, everywhere. Lenovo is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange under Lenovo Group Limited (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY). To find out more visit https://www.lenovo.com, and read about the latest news via our StoryHub. 

Purpose-built work management platform to help agencies manage complex programs, meet compliance standards, and collaborate across teams securely

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Nov. 19, 2025–
Asana, Inc. (NYSE: ASAN), a leading work management platform for human + AI collaboration, today announced Asana Gov, a FedRAMP-in-process platform designed to help government agencies, regulated industries, and public sector partners plan, execute, and collaborate on mission-critical work with clarity and accountability – while meeting strict federal security and compliance standards.

The stakes in government work are high—measured in mission success and public trust. Yet many agencies still rely on siloed data, manual workflows, and legacy systems that slow program execution and make collaboration harder. Asana Gov connects teams, tools, and mission objectives in one secure workspace—breaking down silos, driving change, and making it easy to execute on mandates securely and in compliance with federal standards.

How Asana Gov Supports Mission-Critical Work

Designed for government organizations with multiple departments and programs, Asana Gov uses the Asana Work Graph® to map who is doing what work, by when, how, and why—giving teams a clear, connected view of work and ownership across initiatives. With this context, agencies can:

• Turn goals into action: Connect all work to strategic goals with clear owners, timelines, and progress tracking, so teams can see how their efforts ladder up across departments and programs.

• Enable cross-department execution: Manage work across agency teams, such as through work intake and program management, across departments and delivery teams in one secure workspace built for collaboration and compliance.

• Respond quickly to change: Adapt to new mandates, leadership shifts, or evolving needs with real-time dashboards and AI-powered updates that surface progress, risks, and dependencies—so teams can stay aligned and keep programs on track.

“Government work is among the most consequential in the world, yet the tools public servants rely on often slow them down,” said Arnab Bose, Chief Product Officer at Asana. “Asana Gov is built to remove that barrier. It empowers teams to not just manage work, but to execute on their mission with the clarity, speed, and security today’s public sector demands. When we free public servants from administrative complexity, they can focus on what truly matters: serving the public.”

Built for Secure, Scalable Collaboration

Asana Gov is built to meet federal security standards and is targeted to operate in a FedRAMP Moderate environment (currently designated “In Process”). Cloud-based and quick to deploy, it helps agencies plan, track, and report on work with shared visibility and built-in safeguards such as role-based access controls, audit trails, and multi-factor authentication. Teams can start small—with a single workflow or project—and expand securely across departments and programs as adoption and use cases grow.

Expert Perspectives

“The hardest part of innovation in government isn’t always technology—it’s getting buy-in across leadership, IT, and program offices. A FedRAMP-compliant, easy-to-use platform like Asana Gov bridges that divide. It gives IT leaders the security they need while giving employees a tool they’ll actually adopt, turning modernization from aspiration into measurable progress.”

– Jacques Newgen, Chief Service Delivery Officer of Definitive Innovative Solutions; Founder and CEO of Fluidity Concepts LLC.

“Modern government isn’t just about doing the work—it’s about building public trust. When work, goals, and outcomes are visible in one place like Asana, it empowers every government employee to tell the story of how their day-to-day work delivers for citizens and society.”

– Paul Kruchoski, Director, Guidehouse.

Availability

Asana Gov is expected to be available beginning mid-December 2025 to U.S. federal, state, and local government agencies, as well as government contractors, education institutions, and global organizations in regulated industries. It’s listed on the FedRAMP Marketplace as “In Process” and is expected to be available via GSA Schedule contracts through partners including Carahsoft. In addition to platform licenses, rollout support and flexible plans tailored to government needs will be available. To learn more or request access for your agency or organization, visit asana.com/product/asana-gov.

About Asana

Asana is a leading work management platform for human + AI collaboration. Over 170,000 customers like Accenture, Amazon, Anthropic and Suzuki rely on Asana to align teams and accelerate organizational impact. Whether it’s managing strategic initiatives, cross-functional programs, or company-wide goals, Asana helps organizations bring clarity to complexity—turning plans into action with AI working alongside teams every step of the way. To learn more, visit www.asana.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251119450561/en/

Press Inquiries:
Claire Cameron-Johnson
press@asana.com

Source: Asana, Inc.

Washington, DC: The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded the Fifteenth Periodic Monitoring Report (PMR) on the Status of Management Implementation Plans (MIPs) in Response to Board-Endorsed Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) Recommendations. The Board meeting was held on November 12, 2025.

Since being instituted in January 2007, the PMR has been reporting on the status of implementation of Board-endorsed IEO recommendations. The Fifteenth PMR assessed the progress made over the past year on 48 actions contained in 11 MIPs. These include one new MIP issued in response to an IEO evaluation issued after the Fourteenth PMR.

The Fifteenth PMR concluded that substantial progress has been made, since the last PMR, with the implementation of management actions despite persistent work pressures. The pace of implementation observed in the Fifteenth PMR, with the closure of 24 actions (or 50 percent implementation rate), was comparable to that of the previous PMR (54 percent implementation rate) and much higher than that of the average of 35 percent per year over the last seven PMR monitoring cycles. Overall progress has been made largely across the board with implementation being particularly faster on actions envisaged in more recent MIPs, such as the MIPs in response to IEO Evaluations on the IMF’s Emergency Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic and IMF Engagement with Small Developing States. Four MIPs—IMF Collaboration with the World Bank on Macro-structural Issues, Behind the Scenes with Data at the IMF, the Role of the IMF as Trusted Advisor and the Board Categorization of Open Actions in Management Implementation Plans—will be retired from the PMR monitoring after the current cycle. The prototype slippages framework, which is anchored in the Fund’s Enterprise Risk Management Framework (ERM) and utilizes ERM tools and processes, has been formally adopted. This framework together with the Framework to Address Open Management Actions in Response to Board-endorsed IEO Recommendations approved in 2019 will further strengthen the evaluation follow-up process.

Executive Board Assessment[1]

Executive Directors welcomed the opportunity to discuss the Fifteenth Periodic Monitoring Report (PMR) on the Status of Management Implementation Plans (MIPs) in Response to Board Endorsed Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) Recommendations, and broadly endorsed the assessment contained in the PMR.

Noting persistent workload and budgetary pressures, Directors appreciated the pace of implementation of management actions, comparable to the last PMR and much higher than over the previous seven monitoring cycles. They also welcomed that the action plans are integrated in ongoing workstreams and reviews and acknowledged that the actions implemented are a balance of strategic and operational in nature. Directors noted that since the last PMR, overall progress has been made largely across the board, with implementation being particularly faster on actions envisaged in more recent MIPs and four MIPs to be retired from PMR monitoring after the current cycle. At the same time, some Directors saw scope for a more qualitative, risk based assessment of progress in implementing management actions.

Directors commented on some areas with completed actions that require continued attention. They broadly echoed the IEO’s concerns about whether the new mission chief and country team tenure metric sufficiently address continuity and tailored advice, particularly for FCS and SDS. Ensuring sufficiently long tenures was emphasized as vital for fostering trust and providing effective, country specific support. Some Directors stressed the need for continued progress in budget reporting to support strategic decision making and prioritization by the Board. A number of other Directors also encouraged continued efforts to enhance collaboration with the World Bank on macro structural issues. A few Directors also asked to revisit when resources allow the decision not to publish indices on CFMs, while a number of others expressed concerns about the retired action on the share of underrepresented nationals and women at senior levels. These Directors underscored the need for follow up across other workstreams to ensure the successful achievement of diversity targets.

Directors noted the progress made over the past year on overdue actions, and that over half of them are newly overdue. They stressed that continued prioritization of implementation efforts will be key to maintaining the high pace of implementation in an environment characterized by elevated workloads and multiple demands on Fund staff. Directors encouraged timely completion of overdue actions linked to the Capacity Development Guidance Note and the Review of Conditionality. A number of Directors also emphasized the need to ensure that the reformulated overdue action on social protection achieves the objective of effectively guiding the Fund’s involvement in this area.

Directors welcomed the proposal to implement permanently the prototype slippages framework which is anchored in the Fund’s Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) framework and utilizes ERM tools and processes. The Slippages Framework, together with the Framework to Address Open Management Action in Response to Board endorsed IEO Recommendations approved in 2019, will further strengthen the evaluation follow up process. 

[1] At the conclusion of the discussion, the Managing Director, as Chairman of the Board, summarizes the views of Executive Directors, and this summary is transmitted to the country’s authorities. An explanation of any qualifiers used in summing up can be found here: http://www.IMF.org/external/np/sec/misc/qualifiers.htm.