Country Reports
2014
February 12, 2014
Barbados: Financial System Stability Assessment
Description: This report evaluates the stability of the financial system in Barbados. The findings reveal that Barbados has a relatively well developed financial system, including a large offshore sector. The onshore system is dominated by large, regionally active banks. Banking services to the population are also provided by the credit union sector. The system also includes a mature but concentrated insurance sector with extensive international affiliates, and other nonbank financial institutions provide credit and other instruments for savers. With a deteriorating fiscal situation and weak growth prospects, Barbados faces considerable macroeconomic vulnerabilities. Sovereign risk is a concern, given a large public debt, high fiscal deficits, and slow growth, and policy options are limited by a fixed exchange rate regime.
February 12, 2014
Australia: Staff Report for 2013 Article IV Consultation-Staff Report; Press Release; and Statement by the Executive Director for Australia
Description: This 2013 Article IV consultation highlights Australia’s below-trend GDP growth and the beginning of the decline of the investment phase of the mining boom, which has passed its peak. A key issue now is how Australia can manage the mining-production/export phase and encourage broader-based growth. The main external risks include a slowdown in China over the medium term and surges in global financial market volatility. The pickup in housing market activity, though welcome to date, could pose a future risk if prices accelerate and lead to overshooting. The financial sector is resilient and has strengthened in recent years, although banks’ reliance on offshore funding will continue. The emphasis on tight lending standards and intensive supervision should help limit financial sector risks.
February 11, 2014
El Salvador: Detailed Assessment of Compliance of the Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision
Description: This paper presents an assessment of compliance with the Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision in El Salvador. The regulatory authority Superintendencia del Sistema Financiero (SSF) has taken a number of initiatives to strengthen and upgrade supervision. This includes, among others, a risk unit with specialized expertise and continued efforts to foster cross-border cooperation and coordination. Despite considerable efforts, for the SSF is commended for its efforts, the lack of regulation in practically all risk categories is a major impediment to further progress. The lack of standards in those areas, combined with severe shortcomings in legal protection and deficiencies in the remedial action framework for addressing minor transgressions, limits the SSF’s ability to address imprudent behavior by banks.
February 11, 2014
European Union: Detailed Assessment of Implementation of the European Central Bank Observance of the CPSS-IOSCO Responsibilities of Authorities for Financial Market Infrastructure
Description: This paper discusses key findings of the detailed assessment of implementation of the European Central Bank (ECB) Observance of the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems/International Organization of Securities Commission (CPSS-IOSCO) responsibilities of authorities for financial market infrastructures. The oversight framework of the ECB is comprehensive. The ECB has developed a wide-ranging oversight policy, including quantitative and qualitative criteria to identify, monitor, and remedy any potential systemic risks related to financial market infrastructures. It has also developed oversight standards covering a broad range of infrastructures, service providers, and payment schemes within the euro area.
February 11, 2014
Uruguay: Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes—Data Module
Description: This Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes—Data Module provides an assessment of Uruguay’s macroeconomic statistics against the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS), complemented by an assessment of data quality based on the IMF’s Data Quality Assessment Framework 2012. The findings suggest that Uruguay exceeds the SDDS timeliness requirements for labor market (employment, unemployment, and wages/earnings), price (consumer prices and producer prices), and international investment position data. Currently, Uruguay is using two regular timeliness flexibility options for general government operations and central government operations. In addition, it is using an “as relevant” timeliness provision for analytical accounts of the banking sector for countries with extensive branch banking systems. No flexibility options are being used regarding real sector statistics.
February 11, 2014
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Fifth Review Under the Stand-By Arrangement and Request for Waivers of Applicability and Extension and Augmentation of the Arrangement
Description: On January 31, 2014, the Executive Board of the IMF completed the fifth review of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s economic performance under a program supported by a 24-month Stand-By Arrangement. The completion of the review enables the disbursement of an amount equivalent to SDR 42.275 million (about €48 million), which will bring total disbursements under the arrangement to SDR 253.65 million (about €287.9 million). All end-September 2013 performance criteria (PCs) and indicative targets were met. The Executive Board approved waivers of applicability of the now-controlling end-December 2013 PCs on the budget balances and accumulation of domestic arrears for the Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the entity central governments, for which data are not yet available and for which there is no evidence that they were not observed.
February 11, 2014
El Salvador: Financial System Stability Assessment
Description: This paper presents an assessment of financial sector stability in El Salvador. The findings reveal that the financial system of El Salvador was resilient in the face of the global shocks and political uncertainty that took a toll on the economy in 2009. The new stand-by arrangement with the IMF bolstered confidence in the new authority’s policies and eased concern over the limited lender-of-last-resort capacity of the central bank. Despite the adverse economic environment of 2009, banks’ capitalization and liquidity remain high, and stress tests indicate that most banks could withstand severe shocks. Regulated nonbanks are also sound, but pension funds’ poor profitability could pose a problem in the longer term.
February 11, 2014
El Salvador: Technical Note on Safety Nets and Crisis Management Arrangements
Description: This Technical Note presents an assessment of safety nets and crisis management arrangements in El Salvador. In El Salvador, the bank safety net—emergency liquidity assistance, resolution, and deposit insurance—faces particular challenges given that it operates in the context of official dollarization. To address systemic liquidity risk in the context of official dollarization, the Banco Central de Reservas should be provided with more powers and funds to provide emergency liquidity assistance to banks. The bank resolution plan, which has not been tested, and the deposit insurance fund, which has insufficient funds, both need to be strengthened. The authorities should also consider making the necessary changes to the banking law to strengthen the resolution and depositor insurance frameworks, as well as issuing the necessary regulations and guidelines.
February 10, 2014
Namibia: 2013 Article IV Consultation-Staff Report; Press Release
Description: This 2013 Article IV consultation highlights Namibia’s positive growth record over the years, which has raised overall incomes and led to positive economic outcomes. However, growth has not translated into sufficient job creation, and unemployment and income inequality are persistently high. Real GDP growth is expected to moderate to 4 percent in 2013 from 5 percent in 2012 reflecting weak global demand for exports partially offset by solid growth in domestic demand. Given the uncertain external environment, the IMF staff recommends that the authorities pursue “growth-friendly” fiscal consolidation, reining in unproductive current spending while protecting growth-promoting capital spending. The IMF staff also welcomes efforts by the government to look into ways to steer a gradual reduction of the wage bill, which would improve labor market outcomes.
February 10, 2014
Namibia: Selected Issues
Description: This Selected Issues paper analyzes policies that can raise potential growth in small middle-income countries (SMICs) of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The findings suggest that although macroeconomic stability and trade openness are necessary for productivity growth, they are not sufficient. SMICs in SSA need to improve the quality of their public spending, most notably on education, to solve the problem of skill mismatch in the labor market, reduce the regulatory burden on firms, improve access to financing by small and medium-size enterprises, and pave the way for structural transformation in these economies. Given the short-term cost of these reforms, the timing and sequencing of reforms and the role of quick wins is important for their implementation. In some cases, a social bargain can be a mechanism to generate consensus around a package of mutually reinforcing reforms.