Country Reports
2020
July 2, 2020
Republic of Poland: Technical Assistance Report-Progress Report on Budget System Reform–Developing a Standard Chart of Accounts and a Medium-term Budget Framework
Description: The Polish government is making good progress with implementing the ambitious Budget System Reforms (BSR) program, first approved by the Council of Ministers (CoM) in 2016. The government demonstrates a high level of commitment to these reforms and is making significant progress in implementing the recommendations of earlier FAD missions with the support of the resident advisor.
June 30, 2020
Guinea- Bissau: Technical Assistance Report-Enhancing Governance and the Anti-Corruption Framework: Next Steps
Description: Political instability has limited the development of Guinea-Bissau’s institutional capacity. For example, tensions between the President and the leadership of the country’s largest political party led to six changes of government between the 2014 and 2019 parliamentary elections. Previous IMF capacity development reports, ECF program reviews staff reports, and other diagnosis undertaken by the World Bank and the European Union have pointed to structural governance weaknesses and proposed corrective measures, in some cases, similar to those highlighted in this report. Regrettably, traction has been limited.
June 30, 2020
Tonga: Technical Assistance Report-Climate Change Policy Assessment
Description: Tonga is one of the world’s most exposed countries to climate change and natural disasters. It suffered the highest loss from natural disasters in the world (as a ratio to GDP) in 2018 and is among the top five over the last decade (Table 1). Climate change will make this worse. Cyclones will become more intense, with more damage from wind and sea surges. Rising sea levels will cause more flooding, coastal erosion and contaminate fresh water. Daily high temperatures will become more extreme, with more severe floods and drought.
June 30, 2020
Seychelles: Technical Assistance Report-Scoping the Prospects for Financial Market Development
Description: This Technical Assistance (TA) mission focused on scoping the prospects of developing a secondary market for government securities in Seychelles. The Central Bank of Seychelles (CBS) has a leading role in developing the financial markets and thus acted as the primary counterpart for this mission. However, due to the mission being primarily fact-finding it reached out to all various possible stakeholders; the Ministry of Finance Trade Investment and Economic Planning (MoFTIEP), commercial banks, a pension fund, insurance companies, the securities exchange, securities dealers, etc. In addition, the mission sees the need to coordinate with the World bank (WB) and the IMF country (SYC) team as the former is providing assistance within the legal and payment system areas and the latter provides Seychelles with policy advice under the current PCI program.
June 29, 2020
Republic of Belarus: Technical Assistance Report-Enhancing Monetary Policy Modeling Capacity, Monetary Policy Implementation, and the Forecasting and Policy Analysis System
Description: The NBRB has made substantial progress in improving its forecasting and policy analysis system (FPAS) and integrating it into monetary policy decision-making. The FPAS, and the model-based forecasts and policy analysis, is now well integrated into the policy-making process. Staff are well trained and have become experienced in using the tools developed for policy analysis and forecasting. The forecasting and decision-making process is well structured and has helped increase the two-way interaction between staff and the NBRB board—additional and less formal interaction between staff and board members in between the formal meetings may help enhance the process further.
June 26, 2020
Papua New Guinea: Request for Disbursement under the Rapid Credit Facility-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Papua New Guinea
Description: The COVID-19 pandemic erupted just as the government was beginning to implement wide-ranging fiscal, foreign exchange, structural, and governance measures under a Staff-Monitored Program (SMP). The authorities have reaffirmed their commitment to these reforms, but the impact of the crisis is generating balance of payments and fiscal gaps of 4 and 3 percent of GDP, respectively. In the near term, risks are primarily on the downside, especially if there is a widespread local outbreak of the virus. Papua New Guinea’s longer-term outlook remains positive, largely reflecting the likelihood of major resource sector projects.
June 26, 2020
India: Technical Assistance Report-State of Tamil Nadu-Modernizing Budget Formulation and Managing Fiscal Risks
Description: Although Tamil Nadu’s public financial management has been characterized by strong fiscal discipline to date, risks and challenges are emerging. The State has largely observed the Fiscal Responsibility Act targets on debts and deficit (25 percent and 3 percent to GSDP, respectively) except during the electricity bailout in 2016–17.1 However, these targets appear to have been met by (1) controlling and delaying expenditure, (2) underallocating mandated payments to various reserve funds, and (3) allowing off-budget borrowing by Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs). Accordingly, the State’s borrowing capacity is restricted, leaving limited fiscal space to address high priority needs in education, health, electricity, roads, and water sectors, as well as to address growing infrastructure pressures. More than 63 percent of the State’s spending on current items is committed, to salaries, pensions, and interest payments. Little room remains for additional borrowing to fund spending pressures; moreover, climate change is likely to exacerbate fiscal risks from water stress and natural disasters.
June 25, 2020
Montenegro: Request for Purchase under the Rapid Financing Instrument; Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Montenegro
Description: The COVID-19 pandemic will hit Montenegro hard, as tourism is a key industry. Fiscal space has eroded in recent years due to large public capital outlays, and the COVID-19 crisis is creating new budgetary strains as health spending and other expenditures rise, while the economic contraction lowers revenues.
June 18, 2020
Rwanda: Request for Disbursement Under the Rapid Credit Facility-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Rwanda
Description: As explained in IMF Country Report No. 20/115, COVID-19 has had a severe economic impact on Rwanda through the implementation of strict domestic measures to contain the spread of the virus and related global spillovers. The authorities have responded by deploying health and economic measures totaling USD 311 million (3.3 percent of GDP). They have also set up an economic recovery fund to support firms affected by the pandemic. To help address the urgent balance of payments (BOP) need arising from the pandemic, currently estimated at about USD 433 million, the authorities request an additional disbursement under the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) of 50 percent of quota (SDR 80.1 million) under the “exogenous shock” window of the RCF. This follows the Executive Board’s approval on April 2, 2020 of the authorities’ earlier request for the same amount, before the doubling of the annual access limit of emergency financing under the “exogenous shock” window of the RCF to 100 percent of quota on April 9, 2020. This additional request will bring the total disbursement under the RCF to 100 percent of quota.