25 Years of transition in post-communist Europe - successes and disappointments

The past 25 years have seen a dramatic transformation in Europe’s former socialist economies. Most have seen major improvements in living standards. But the task of building full market economies has been harder than many expected at the start. Market-based reforms have been critical to countries’ success: those that took more front-loaded and bold reforms were rewarded with faster growth and income convergence. Analysis shows some now have more in common with advanced European countries than with other former communist economies. But for others, transition is still far from complete, and reform momentum has slowed across the board. This threatens the further convergence to Western European income levels, and risks stagnation and renewed crisis for some countries. The authors of a new IMF report examine the transition experience of the past 25 years and draw lessons for the future.

Speakers

• James Roaf, Senior Resident Representative, Regional Office for Central and Eastern Europe, IMF, Warsaw
• Bikas Joshi Head of the Resident Representative Office of the International Monetary Fund, Moscow
• Discussant: Zsolt Darvas, Senior Fellow, Bruegel
• Chair: André Sapir, Senior Fellow, Bruegel

About the Speakers

James Roaf is the Senior Resident Representative heading the IMF’s Regional Office for Central and Eastern Europe, in Warsaw. Previously he was Assistant Director in the Strategy, Policy and Review Department, leading the Emerging Markets division which oversees IMF lending policy and operations, as well as covering broader EM issues. His earlier assignments in the IMF include Resident Representative in Bulgaria and the country teams handling the aftermaths of the Russia and Argentina crises. He started his career as an economist in the UK Treasury.

Bikas Joshi is the head of the Resident Representative Office of the International Monetary Fund in Moscow. Before taking up his current position in July 2013, he was the Assistant to Director in the IMF’s Strategy, Policy, and Review Department, where his responsibilities included coordinating IMF activities with international groupings such as the G20. He has had a wide-ranging career at the IMF, from working on crisis cases in Hungary and Portugal to covering countries as diverse as Mexico, Bulgaria, and Cambodia. He was part of the team that helped introduce reforms in the IMF’s lending facilities, to facilitate IMF support immediately after the global financial crisis. He holds a Bachelors degree in Economics, magna cum laude, from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University.

Event materials

IMF Report: “25 Years of Transition: Post-Communist Europe and the IMF” by James Roaf, Ruben Atoyan, Bikas Joshi, Krzysztof Krogulski and an IMF Staff Team

Practical details

• Venue: Bruegel, Rue de la Charité 33, 1210 Brussels
• Time: Thursday 20 November 2014, 12:45-14:30. Lunch will be served at 12:45 after which the event will begin at 13:00.
• Contact: Matilda Sevón, Events Manager - [email protected]

Event Materials

Event summary -