IMF Conference

Héctor Manuel Valdez Albizu, President, Central Bank, Dominican Republic

Anoop Singh, Director, Western Hemisphere Department, IMF

Central America is benefiting from a generally benign global environment but is also facing a number of shocks and risks. This session looked at the global economic setting and assessed Central America’s economic outlook.

Chair:
Vicente Bengoa, Secretary of Finance, Dominican Republic

Speakers:
Anoop Singh, Director, Western Hemisphere Department, IMF—The Global Context (PDF 2.3MB)

Dominique Desruelle, Division Chief, Western Hemisphere Department, IMF and Alfred Schipke, Regional Resident Representative, IMF—Economic Developments and Outlook (PDF 1.6MB)

Commentator:
Francisco de Paula Gutiérrez, President, Central America Monetary Council and Central Bank, Costa Rica

Central America’s financial system is largely bank-based, reflecting in part the region’s level of economic development. At the same time, the development of domestic capital markets has been hampered in some countries by a number of factors, including the practice of dual sovereign issuers associated with central bank losses, issuance of non-standard debt, the fragmentation of public debt issuance, as well as inadequate regulation. This session assessed Central America’s domestic and regional capital markets, focusing on its sovereign segments, and proposed areas for reform.

Chair:
Danilo Montero Rodríguez, Superintendent of Securities and Exchanges, Costa Rica

Speakers:
Rodrigo Ocejo, Managing Director, Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc.

Eliot Kalter, Assistant Director and Hemant Shah, Deputy Division Chief, International Capital Markets Department, IMF

Commentator:
Luz María Serpas de Portillo, President, Central Bank, El Salvador

Conference participants discussed measures to foster the development of public debt markets in their respective countries, including the usefulness of increased regional cooperation and the adoption of regional standards.

Chair:
Lizardo Sosa López, President, Bank of Guatemala

Panel:
Ministers, Presidents of Central Banks, Superintendents, IMF

Keynote speaker:
Agustín Carstens, Deputy Managing Director, IMF—Reshaping the IMF's Role in the 21st Century

Report on the progress of the regional technical assistance programs and discussion about next steps. This meeting also provided an opportunity to reflect on future TA projects.

Chair:
Agustín Carstens, Deputy Managing Director, IMF

Moderator:
Luis Breuer, Deputy Division Chief, Western Hemisphere Department, IMF

Reports:
Ramón Guzmán, Director General, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Spain

María Antonieta de Bonilla, Minister of Finance, Guatemala—Project on Taxes Coordination

Rafael Camilo, President, Central America Council for Superintendencies and Superintendent of Banks, Dominican Republic—Project on Consolidated Supervision

Edgar Ayales, Assistant Director, Statistics Department, IMF—Project on Harmonization of the Monetary and Financial Statistics

Discussion:
Ministers, Presidents of Central Banks, IMF

Central America has a wide range of pension systems. Despite a number of reforms, the defined-benefit systems continue to be unsustainable in the long run, and the funded, defined-contribution systems face high transition costs and potentially large implicit liabilities. This session provided an overview of the different systems and current reform proposals and, drawing from the experience of past reforms, highlighted a number of policy recommendations.

Chair:
Rebeca Santos, Minister of Finance (Designate), Honduras

Speakers:
Luis Fernando Alarcón, President, Colombian Association of Severance Pay and Pension Funds Administrators (ASOFONDOS)

Kevin Fletcher, Economist, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF and Alfred Schipke, Regional Resident Representative, IMF

Commentator:
Héctor Alexander, Vice-Minister of Economy and Finance, Panama

Conference participants discussed strategies to tackle unsustainable pension systems and to minimize transition costs and implicit liabilities of low pension benefits. Ministers shared their experiences of past reforms and discussed the political economy of generating sufficient support for pension reform.

Chair:
Mario Arana Sevilla, President, Central Bank, Nicaragua

Discussion:
Ministers, Presidents of Central Banks, Superintendents, IMF

Francisco de Paula Gutiérrez, President, Central American Monetary Council and Central Bank, Costa Rica

Agustín Carstens, Deputy Managing Director, IMF