Fearonomics

The launch of the EBRD’s latest Regional Economic Prospects will be in panel discussion format at a special EBRD Annual Meeting 2026 session. The conversation will cover the latest economic forecasts for the regions where the Bank invests. EBRD Chief Economist Beata Javorcik and leading regional experts will discuss how escalating geopolitical tensions alter the economic outlook and reshape policy-making at a time when government finances are increasingly constrained and inflation concerns are resurfacing.

The report will be published earlier in the week.

The event is open to all participants and questions from accredited journalists are welcome after the discussion.

Speakers

• Jonathan Charles, Strategy Advisor
• Paul Donovan, Chief Economist, UBS Global Wealth Management
• Heike Harmgart, Managing Director, Sub-Saharan Africa, EBRD
• Beata Javorcik, Chief Economist, EBRD
• Elina Ribakova, Senior Research Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics

Is demographic change a bigger global challenge than climate change? And is population ageing, in fact, one of humanity’s greatest successes?

In this episode, listen back to the launch of the EBRD’s Transition Report 2025-26: Brave Old World. Moderated by Richard Porter, EBRD Managing Director of Communications, the discussion brings together a distinguished panel:
Professor Sarah Harper CBE – Clore Professor of Gerontology, University of Oxford; Director, Oxford Institute of Population Ageing
Eghosa Omoigui – Founder and Managing General Partner, EchoVC Partners
Dr Nicholas Eberstadt – Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy, American Enterprise Institute
Beata Javorcik – EBRD Chief Economist

Brave Old World explores how demographic shifts are reshaping economies—from rapidly ageing societies to countries with youthful, fast-growing populations. The report examines declining fertility rates, the economic consequences of ageing, and the policy tools that can help countries adapt. These include extending productive working lives, accelerating automation, and enabling labour mobility.
The discussion also delves into how artificial intelligence, migration policy, and evolving societal values interact with demographic change across the EBRD regions and beyond.

In the context of escalating geopolitical tensions, environmental challenges and rapid technological change, industrial policies – state-led strategic interventions designed to reshape an economy’s production structure – have made a comeback in both advanced economies and emerging markets. These policies seek to address global market failures such as climate change, foster economic growth, boost innovation and improve competitiveness. However, they have a mixed track record and pose complex challenges, which this panel will explore.

This discussion examined whether and how emerging markets can use industrial policy to drive sustainable economic growth, diversify economies and enhance competitiveness while navigating global geopolitical uncertainty and avoiding the mistakes of the past. It explored how these economies can manage the delicate balance between national competitiveness and international cooperation.

 

Speakers: Richard Porter, MD, Communications, EBRD Beata Javorcik, Chief Economist, EBRD Jeromin Zettelmeyer, Director, Bruegel Bernardo Sestini, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, SIAD Group Leslie Maasdorp, CEO of British International Investment

Listen back to the live launch of the EBRD regional economic forecasts during the 34th EBRD Annual Meeting and Business Forum in London.

The discussion covered the latest economic forecasts for the regions where the EBRD invests. The EBRD’s Chief Economist, Beata Javorcik, and leading regional experts discussed the challenges confronting policymakers amidst rising geo-political tensions and intensifying pressures on government finances.

Speakers: Jonathan Charles, Strategy Advisor Sergey Guriev, Dean, Professor of Economics, London Business School Beata Javorcik, Chief Economist, EBRD Lord Jim O'Neill of Gatley

Listen to the discussion on the industrial policy at the launch of the EBRD Transition Report, moderated by Richard Porter, EBRD Managing Director of Communications. It featured:
 
Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel laureate in economics and Professor at Columbia University 
Rana Foroohar, global business columnist and associate editor at the Financial Times
Jeromin Zettelmeyer, Director of Bruegel, the European Union’s economic think tank
Beata Javorcik, EBRD Chief Economist
 
The Transition Report report takes an extensive look at industrial policies in the EBRD regions and beyond. Such policies, which are aimed at changing the sectoral composition of production in an economy, have seen a resurgence in recent years, seeking to address increasingly pressing market failures such as environmental degradation.
 
Their track record is mixed, with their growing popularity being shaped primarily by domestic political economy considerations and rising geopolitical tensions. While industrial policies are typically employed by higher-income economies, they are also being seen more frequently in economies with less administrative and fiscal capacity to implement them.

Read it here: https://2024.tr-ebrd.com

Listen to the live launch of EBRD Transition Report 2023-24 Transitions big and small.

 

The discussion featured

• Charlotta Källbäck, Head of Internal Audit, Volvo Cars
• Sandra Bates, specialist on mining and clean energy with Executive and non-Executive Director experience
• Mark Keese, Head of the Skills and Employment Division, OECD
• Professor Beata Javorcik, Chief Economist, EBRD

Moderated by Jonathan Charles

The report entitled “Transitions big and small” discusses the ways in which the deep structural transformation of the global economy is impacting the lives, livelihoods and living conditions of people across the EBRD regions. It focuses on important “big transitions” such as the shift towards a sustainable economy, the reconfiguration of global supply chains, and the scramble for the raw materials required by the digital and green economies.

The report uses unique data from the fourth round of the Life in Transition Survey, a household survey conducted in 2022 and 2023, to see how these macro-level trends translate into “small transitions”: career moves, changes in physical and mental health, the refurbishment of housing and – ultimately – changes in people’s satisfaction with life.

Policymakers and investors need to be aware of the short and long-term challenges Ukraine faces during the war and those that the country will have to deal with in the post-war period.

The panel takes a broad look at the historical experience of war and peace and examines the impact that armed conflicts have had on economic performance and political, social and population trends, both during the wars and after they end.

This retrospective aims to provide some indication of the sheer scale of the challenges that Ukraine has been subject to and will face during the reconstruction stage. On that basis, the panel draws conclusions that can help inform policymakers’ and investors’ short- and long-term responses to those challenges. 

Moderator

• Jonathan Charles, Strategic Communications Consultant and Broadcaster

Speakers

• Beata Javorcik, Chief Economist, EBRD
• Fiona Hill, Senior Fellow - Foreign Policy, The Brookings Institution
• Harold James, Professor of History, Princeton University
• Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, Guido Goldman Distinguished Scholar for Geostrategy, GMF
• Peter Frankopan, Professor of Global History, Oxford University

The much-anticipated EBRD Regional Economic Prospects were back in the new panel discussion format for a special EBRD Annual Meeting 2023 edition. The interactive discussion covered the latest economic forecasts for the regions where the EBRD invests. EBRD Chief Economist Beata Javorcik discussed with outstanding regional experts the extraordinary challenges that policymakers are confronted with in the world of relentless inflationary pressures and repeated economic crises.
Keynote speaker

Beata Javorcik, Chief Economist, EBRD
Moderator

Jonathan Charles, Strategic Communications Consultant and Broadcaster
Speakers

Sergei Guriev, Professor of Economics, Institut d'Études Politiques
Heike Harmgart, Managing Director, Southern and Eastern Mediterranean, EBRD

Nearly nine months after the Russian invasion, the war has seriously affected Ukraine’s economy, which is facing daunting tasks.

 

Macroeconomic and financial sector stability are essential for the continued functioning of the economy and maintaining the war effort. Supporting and stimulating the real economy are the key elements of its economic sustainability.

Participants:

• Odile Renaud-Basso,  President,  EBRD
• Tymofiy Mylovanov, President, Kyiv School of Economics
• Torbjörn Becker, Professor of economics, Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics – SITE and CEPR
• Beata Javorcik, Chief Economist, EBRD (moderator)

Listen to the live launch of the Transition Report 2022-23: Business Unusual.\

A global pandemic, lockdowns, supply-chain disruption, war in Europe, rocketing gas prices, forced mass migration, high inflation, growing debt burdens, reshoring, friendshoring … This non-exhaustive – yet quite exhausting – list would be enough of a challenge for governments and businesses to manage over a decade or more. And yet, all of this has happened over the past three years, with the prospect of more turbulence to come. 

It is clear that there is no going back to the pre-pandemic “business as usual”. Our approach to work has been revolutionised, while the war and the energy crisis are transforming our views on energy and food security, prompting a major rethink of how economies and businesses obtain critical raw materials and complex parts and components.

The title of this year’s Transition Report – “Business Unusual” – encapsulates the tectonic changes that policymakers and businesses have been dealing with and will continue to face for some time to come. The report focuses on how these developments have played out in the EBRD regions. Based on recent surveys providing a plethora of new data and on other newly compiled information, the report presents a wealth of analysis that can inform public policy and business decision-making.

Speakers

• Philip Bennett is a former First Vice President and Head of the Client Services Group at the EBRD.
• Ivan Krastev is a political scientist, chair of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia and a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) in Vienna.
• Sabine Weyand is Director General for Trade at the European Commission. 
• Beata Javorcik is EBRD Chief Economist and Professor of Economics at the University of Oxford.
• Jonathan Charles is a former Managing Director of the Communications Department at the EBRD.