Country Reports
2018
March 8, 2018
Belgium: Financial System Stability Assessment-Technical Note- Stress Testing the Banking and Insurance Sectors and Systemic Risk Analysis
Description: This Technical Note discusses the results of the stress testing of Belgium’s banking and insurance sectors. Belgium’s financial sector remains resilient in the face of the rising cyclical vulnerabilities, but there is a need for closely monitoring risks. Stress tests on banks and insurance companies confirm that they can absorb credit, sovereign, and market losses in the event of a severe deterioration in macro-financial conditions. All banks meet minimum capital requirements and none needs to draw down its capital conservation buffer over the stress horizon. The risk of interbank contagion through direct exposures is low. Insurance companies are also generally resilient and losses incurred in the stress scenarios by those that belong to banking groups do not threaten the soundness of those groups.
March 8, 2018
Belgium: Financial System Stability Assessment-Technical Note-Banking, Insurance, and Financial Conglomerate Supervision
Description: This Technical Note analyzes the key aspects of the regulatory and supervisory regime of banks, insurance companies and financial conglomerates (FCs) in Belgium. The regulatory framework for Belgian financial institutions has been strengthened substantially since the 2013 Financial Sector Assessment Program. Notably, new national banking and insurance laws have been issued, the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive and amendments to Financial Conglomerate Directive have been transposed, Solvency II has been implemented, and the National Bank of Belgium has been designated as the macroprudential authority. This has improved significantly the regulatory framework and broadened its scope to better address the challenges posed by FCs. Financial sector supervision has also been upgraded markedly.
March 8, 2018
Belgium: 2018 Article IV Consultation - Press Release; Staff Report
Description: This 2018 Article IV Consultation highlights that the economic recovery in Belgium is gaining momentum, with real GDP growth expected to approach 2 percent in 2018 after an estimated 1.7 percent in 2017. It is driven by strong investment and solid consumption growth, and supported by favorable financial conditions as well as a strengthening recovery throughout Europe. Employment growth has picked up, thanks in part to past reform efforts. The fiscal position has improved, reflecting a mix of cyclical, structural, and one-off factors. The medium-term outlook, however, remains subdued in the absence of further structural reforms to raise potential growth, and subject to both external and domestic risks.
March 8, 2018
Belgium: Financial System Stability Assessment
Description: This paper assesses the stability of Belgium’s financial system. The financial sector remains resilient in the face of the rising cyclical vulnerabilities, but there is a need for closely monitoring risks. Stress tests on banks and insurance companies confirm that they can absorb credit, sovereign, and market losses in the event of a severe deterioration in macro-financial conditions. The risk of interbank contagion through direct exposures is low. Insurance companies are also generally resilient and the losses incurred by those that belong to banking groups do not threaten the soundness of those groups. Bank resilience reflects relatively healthy loan portfolios and limited exposure to market and liquidity risks, while insurance companies have sound solvency levels and reduced exposures to guaranteed rates.
March 8, 2018
Solomon Islands: Selected Issues
Description: This Selected Issues paper sets out options to demonstrate how the authorities could supplement their cash balance target and public debt limit with an anchor to help discipline annual budget decisions. The paper introduces the current fiscal framework and effective fiscal rules based on international experiences, including the characteristics of each rule. It also discusses the need for a new fiscal anchor, given high revenue volatility, high infrastructure needs, and the country’s exposure and vulnerability to natural disasters. Contingency warrants for unforeseen expenditures, including from natural disasters, should be included in the budget in line with international best practices. Furthermore, if a disaster does not occur, this allocation could be saved in a contingency fund for natural disasters, which would enable swift disbursement in the aftermath of the disaster. The fund would be set up once fiscal buffers have been rebuilt. The IMF Staff suggests a target for the overall fiscal deficit of 1.5 percent of gross domestic product as a possible fiscal anchor, which would strike a balance between safeguarding debt sustainability and addressing the severe infrastructure gap.
March 8, 2018
Belgium: Selected Issues
Description: This Selected Issues paper analyzes productivity growth in Belgium. It highlights that Belgium’s subdued productivity growth can be explained by a combination of sectoral employment shifts, barriers to competition, the declining quality of infrastructure, and an aging workforce. The shift of employment toward lower productivity service sectors, common to many advanced economies, has been more pronounced in Belgium and explains half of the productivity gap with neighboring countries. Population aging is another secular factor that has contributed to the productivity slowdown. In addition, barriers to competition in some service sectors have lowered productivity growth and raised rents in these sectors.
March 7, 2018
Nigeria: Selected Issues
Description: This Selected Issues paper analyzes mobilization of tax revenues in Nigeria. Low non-oil revenue mobilization is affecting the government’s objectives to expand growth-enhancing expenditure priorities, foster higher growth, and comply with its fiscal rule which limits the federal government deficit to no more than 3 percent of GDP. There is significant revenue potential from structural tax measures. A broad-based and comprehensive tax reform program is needed in the short and medium term to address these objectives and generate sustainable revenue growth by broadening the bases of income and consumption taxes, closing loopholes and leakage created by corporate tax holidays and the widespread use of other associated tax expenditures, as well as creating incentives for the subnational tiers of government to raise their own source revenues.
March 7, 2018
Nigeria: 2018 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Nigeria
Description: This 2018 Article IV Consultation highlights that the Nigerian economy is exiting recession but remains vulnerable. New foreign exchange measures, rising oil prices, attractive yields on government securities, and a tighter monetary policy have contributed to better foreign exchange availability, increased reserves to a four-year high, and contained inflationary pressures. Economic growth reached 0.8 percent in 2017, driven mainly by recovering oil production. Inflation declined to 15.4 percent year-over-year by end-December, from 18.5 percent at end-2016. Higher oil prices are supporting the near-term projections, but medium-term projections indicate that growth would remain relatively flat, with continuing declines in per capita real GDP under unchanged policies.
March 7, 2018
Republic of Mozambique: 2017 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for the Republic of Mozambique
Description: This 2017 Article IV Consultation highlights that growth in Mozambique decelerated in 2016 to 3.8 percent (from 6.6 percent in 2015). The latest data show that the economy grew by 3.7 percent in 2017, driven by a recovery in agriculture and mining activity. A tight monetary stance, coupled with exchange rate appreciation, led to a steep fall in inflation to 6.3 percent (year-over-year) in January 2018, from a peak of 26 percent in November 2016. The outlook remains challenging. Absent further policy action, real GDP growth is expected to further decline over time while inflation would remain at current levels. The fiscal deficit would expand, leading to further accumulation of public debt and crowding out of the private sector.
March 7, 2018
Republic of Mozambique: Selected Issues
Description: This Selected Issues paper documents the main features of the current monetary policy regime in Mozambique, describe ongoing structural policy changes announced by the central bank, and analyze the main challenges facing the central bank in the process to modernize its monetary policy framework. Recognizing the signaling value of interest rates to anchor inflation expectations and help influence market interest rates, the paper usefully focuses on the needed reforms to enable the central bank to successfully replace monetary aggregates by interest rate as the main instrument of monetary policy. Deepening the understanding of the obstacles on the way to a smooth monetary transmission, further building the central bank inflation forecasting capacity, strengthening the coordination between fiscal and monetary policies, enhancing central bank communications and modernizing the legal framework to ensure central bank operational autonomy are essential to the success of the new monetary regime. Importantly, the presence of a committed and strong technical team and a reform-oriented management should greatly facilitate the implementation of these vital central bank reforms.