Country Reports
2020
July 24, 2020
Senegal: First Review Under the Policy Coordination Instrument and Request for Modification of Quantitative Targets-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Senegal
Description: The Covid-19 pandemic has ended a period of buoyant growth averaging about 6 ½ percent over the last 6 years. Containment measures, lower external demand, reduced remittances, and the sudden stop of travel and tourism are taking a significant toll on the economy. Without forceful policy measures, the current crisis could unravel development gains over the last decade. The authorities have taken strong actions to contain the pandemic and mitigate its economic fallout, supported by significant additional external financing from Senegal’s development partners. The IMF disbursed US$442 million (100 percent of quota) under the RFI/RCF in April.
July 23, 2020
Georgia: Technical Assistance Report-Public Sector Balance Sheet and State Owned Enterprises
Description: Georgia’s public sector balance sheet (PSBS) is in relatively healthy shape, with assets exceeding liabilities, and is comparatively lean. Looking across all entities that the government controls, including the central government, local governments, the State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) sector and the National Bank of Georgia (NBG), total assets are worth 149 percent of GDP, made up of cash, loans, infrastructure, land and productive SOE assets. Liabilities are worth 81 percent of GDP, primarily comprising loans and debt of the government and SOEs. This leaves positive net worth of 68 percent of GDP, putting it in the top third of countries in the IMF’s database.
July 22, 2020
Belize: Technical Assistance Report-Public Investment Management Assessment
Description: The level of public investment in Belize has varied over the past years in the context of existing constraints. The sharp increase in public debt has limited available fiscal space.1 This has resulted in an increase in externally financed investments as a share of the capital budget and a growing interest in public private partnerships (PPPs) to help achieve the government of Belize’s national strategy objectives.2 However, the correlation between Belize’s public investment and GDP growth remains weak, and the public capital stock as a ratio to GDP shows a sharp deterioration, possibly pointing to investment inefficiencies.
July 22, 2020
Kingdom of Lesotho: Technical Assistance Report-Implementation of Basel II
Description: This mission, a follow up to the earlier mission from IMF AFRITAC South (AFS) conducted in March 2017 (STX Mr. Bernie Egan), was designed to further help the authorities in the implementation of Basel II and select elements of Basel III. The main objectives of the mission were to help the CBL finalize the Draft Guidelines to banks on Pillar 1; assist in the implementation of Pillar 2, with attention paid to the Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process (SREP) and the banks´ Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment Process (ICAAP); and evaluate current disclosure requirements in view of the recent revision of Pillar 3 by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS). The adoption of select elements of Basel III especially those related to definition of capital was discussed.
July 20, 2020
Zimbabwe: Technical Assistance Report-Government Finance Statistics
Description: As part of a five-year project of the Enhanced Data Dissemination Initiative (EDDI) 2 Government Finance Statistics (GFS) Module on improving GFS and public-sector debt statistics in selected African countries, a mission was conducted in Harare, Zimbabwe during April 15–26, 2019. This mission was a follow up on a 2018 GFS technical assistance (TA) mission under the EDDI 2. The mission’s objective was to review progress made and assisting with outstanding statistical issues that are important for sound policymaking in Zimbabwe. Some of the key outstanding issues raised by the IMF African Department prior to the mission were, the classification of government subsidies to state owned enterprises (SOEs); the identification of extrabudgetary units (EBUs) and classification of their operations; and the correct classification of other government transactions in line with a Government Finance Statistics Manual (GFSM) 2014 framework.
July 20, 2020
Zambia: Technical Assistance Report-Report on Government Finance Statistics
Description: In response to a request from the authorities and as part of the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) Enhanced Data Dissemination Initiative (EDDI) 2 project, a Government Finance Statistics (GFS) mission visited Lusaka, Zambia, during November 19–30, 2018. This was the third mission to Zambia under the DFID EDDI2 project, following the March 2016 and November 2017 missions. The mission worked essentially with staff at the Zambia Central Statistical Office (CSO) Public Finance Unit (PFU), but also had meetings with staff from the Ministry of Finance’s Accountant General, Budget, Investment and Debt Management, and Economic Management departments.
July 16, 2020
Guinea: Request for Disbursement Under the Rapid Credit Facility-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Guinea
Description: Guinea is being severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. A local outbreak is spreading rapidly, adding pressure to the fragile social context and putting a strain on the health system. Containment measures have started to negatively impact domestic economic activity. Furthermore, the sharp slowdown in China (Guinea’s main export market) has hindered mining exports and tax revenues, putting pressure on Guinea’s external and fiscal position. Since the completion of the fourth ECF review, worsening global conditions and the local outbreak have deteriorated Guinea’s short-term outlook. Real growth is expected to sharply decelerate to 1.4 percent in 2020.
July 7, 2020
Republic of Kosovo: Technical Assistance Report-Financial Sector Stability Review
Description: The FSSR mission team conducted a diagnostic review of CBK governance and of the financial system, undertook a stocktaking of the implementation of recommendations from the 2012 Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) and MCM TA, and proposed a TA Roadmap to support the efforts of the authorities to address key gaps and vulnerabilities. The IMF Statistics Department (STA) supported the mission with an assessment of the compilation of financial soundness indicators (FSIs), monetary and financial statistics, and balance sheet matrices (Annex I).
July 2, 2020
Myanmar: Requests for Disbursement Under the Rapid Credit Facility and Purchase Under the Rapid Financing Instrument-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Myanmar
Description: The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to hit hard Myanmar’s economy via weaker exports, tourism, remittances and domestic demand. The economic and social costs of a widespread outbreak could be large, against the backdrop of a frail healthcare system and inadequate social safety nets, as well as already low international reserves and a fragile banking system. The measures to contain and alleviate the effects of the pandemic open up sizeable BOP and fiscal financing gaps in the near term.
July 2, 2020
El Salvador: Technical Assistance Report-The Capacity Development National Accounts Statistics Mission
Description: A technical Assistance (TA) Mission was conducted by CAPTAC-DR1 from May 14 to 18, 2018 with the objective of supporting the Central Reserve Bank of El Salvador (CBR) in its efforts to strengthen its national accounts statistics for decision making. The TA mission covered the following topics: compilation of an Input-Output Table (IOT) for 2014; as well as to follow up on the recommendations made in previous TA missions to disseminate Supply and Use Tables (SUT) for 2015 and thereafter, as part of the national accounts’ series with base year 2005. In addition, the mission provided training to the Department of National Accounts (DNA) team of the CBR in the methodological and conceptual aspects necessary for the analysis and application of the IOT as a statistical and analytical tool.