Luca Antonio Ricci
lucaricci2010.bsky.social
Luca Antonio Ricci
@lucaricci2010.bsky.social

Economist. Assistant Director @IMFNews , Research Fellow at @cepr_org , former Head of International Economics at Barclays - Personal account. Views are my own.

Economics 89%
Business 2%

and here is the event i will be joining, at the
Singapore FinTech Festival #SFF2025 : fintechfestival.sg/agenda/agnd1... !!!!
SFF 2025: Bridging Gaps, Building Foundations: Digital Public Infrastructure and Social Protection for Inclusive Growth
fintechfestival.sg

looking forward to seeing you all at the
Singapore FinTech Festival #SFF2025 !!!!

Here are the videos for the 7th event of our IMF Sub-Saharan Africa Central Bank Network on Central Bank Digital Currency and Digital Payments, organized on May 12-13, 2025 together with the Bank of Ghana. The event focused on “Remittances, Compliance, and Interoperability”.

New Tether USAT will change the global landscape of stablecoins and likely influence the US Treasuries market tether.io/news/tether-...
Tether Unveils USA₮, its Planned U.S.-Regulated Dollar-Backed Stablecoin, and Will Appoint Bo Hines as CEO of Tether USA₮ - Tether.io
The introduction of USA₮ and appointment of Bo Hines marks Tether’s next chapter in strengthening U.S. dollar dominance through transparency and innovation 12 September 2025 – Tether, the largest comp...
tether.io

Pls see the video here: www.omfif.org/videos/sub-s...

Please join me for this event on Thursday organized by OMFIF, where we discuss developments and policy issues related to Digital Payments in Sub-Saharan Africa.

www.omfif.org/meetings/sub...
Sub-Saharan Africa's digital payments innovation: insights from the IMF - OMFIF
Luca Antonio Ricci, mission chief and assistant director of the International Monetary Fund’s Africa department, joins OMFIF to present the IMF’s latest departmental paper on digital payments innovati...
www.omfif.org
❓Why do the Nordics & Dutch speak English so much better than the Germans, Italians & French?

➡️ New Working Paper:

Out-of-School Learning: Subtitling vs. Dubbing and the Acquisition of Foreign-Language Skills
w/ F. Baumeister & E. Hanushek

www.nber.org/papers/w33984

A 🧵 1/12

Luca Antonio Ricci, Advisor IMF African Department
Tommaso Mancini Griffoli, Division Chief IMF Monetary and Capital Markets Department
Xiangming Li, Advisor IMF African Department

Abebe Aemro Selassie, Director of the IMF African Department, Tobias Adrian, Financial Counsellor and Director IMF Monetary and Capital Markets Department
Vitaliy Kramarenko, Deputy Director IMF African Department

A great thank you to all the key speakers:
Lesetja Kganyago, Governor of the South African Reserve Bank,
Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, Governor of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO),
Bo Li, IMF Deputy Managing Director

This was organized as part of the IMF African Department Working Group on CBDC and Digital Payment that I am co-leading.

The rise of digital money and payments has transformed the payment landscape in Sub-Saharan Africa. Policymakers explored the future policy agenda related to digital payments, aimed at improving financial inclusion and payment efficiency.

As part of the IMF-WB 2025 Spring Meetings, we held a High-Level event on “Digital Innovations in Payments: Sub-Saharan Africa Future Agenda”:
www.imf.org/en/Videos/vi...
Digital Innovations in Payments: Sub-Saharan Africa Future Agenda
The rise of digital money and payments has transformed the payment landscape in Sub-Saharan Africa. Policymakers explored the future policy agenda related to digital payments, aimed at improving finan...
www.imf.org

Thanks to the WAEMU regional authorities with whom we had excellent meetings, and to the WAEMU team for the tireless efforts.

I am happy to report that the IMF Executive Board concluded on Friday May 2nd the 2025 Discussions on Common Policies of Member Countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union.
www.imf.org/en/News/Arti...
IMF Executive Board Concludes 2025 Discussions on Common Policies of Member Countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union
Economic growth continues to be strong in the WAEMU. Inflation has fallen back to its target range, and recent improvements in regional external imbalances are supporting a strong recovery in reserves...
www.imf.org

This is another opportunity for Europe to start denting the US$ financial dominance in global markets (the could not take advantage of the GFC )
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/b...
Bond Sell Off Raises Questions About U.S. Safe Haven Status
As the fallout from President Trump’s global trade war spreads, investors are fleeing what is typically seen as the safest corner.
www.nytimes.com

The importance of boredom www.facebook.com/share/r/18fi...
Redirecting...
www.facebook.com

This discusses more broadly the USA South Africa relations, the land reform, and the US welcoming Africaners www.cnn.com/2025/03/14/p...
Rubio says South African ambassador ‘no longer welcome’ in US | CNN Politics
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday said that South Africa’s ambassador to the United States “is no longer welcome in our great country.”
www.cnn.com

www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/t... “The main loser in each case [IMF and WB] would be the US itself.…For the Fed, the situation is, if anything, more dire”
The Fed, the Fund, and the Bank in Trump’s Crosshairs | by Barry Eichengreen - Project Syndicate
Barry Eichengreen explains why the US president’s second administration, unlike his first, is targeting all three.
www.project-syndicate.org

“That’s the world we’re going into,” he predicted, adding “I don’t think we’re going back to the one we had before.”

Sir Alex Younger, the former head of MI6, the British spy agency, said in a BBC interview that it reminded him of the Yalta Conference — the meeting of Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin in 1945 — where “the strong countries decided the fate of small countries.”

This site tracks lawsuits against trump agenda www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Tracking the Lawsuits Against Trump’s Agenda
Follow the lawsuits and rulings that are challenging President Trump's executive orders.
www.nytimes.com
18F was doing exactly the type of work that DOGE claims to want – yet we were eliminated shortly after midnight. Read our letter to the American people:
18f.org
We're not done yet | 18F
18f.org