Country Reports
2014
February 10, 2014
Bolivia: Staff Report for the 2013 Article IV Consultation
Description: This Informational Annex highlights the ongoing Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) for the fiscal period 2012–15, which is guiding World Bank support to Bolivia. The CPS consists of a program of lending operations and knowledge activities along four pillars: (1) sustainable productive development; (2) climate change and disaster risk management; (3) human development and access to basic services; and (4) public sector effectiveness. In addition, the strategy incorporates gender, governance, and anticorruption as cross-cutting themes. These areas respond to government requests and priorities outlined in the National Development Plan, while also making the most of the World Bank’s comparative advantage. For the remainder of the CPS period, efforts will involve more programmatic interventions, new instruments, and more innovative approaches and will now include financing from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
February 10, 2014
Burkina Faso: Seventh Review Under the Extended Credit Facility Arrangement and Request for a New Three-Year Extended Credit Facility Arrangement
Description: This paper discusses Burkina Faso’s Seventh Review Under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) Arrangement and Request for a new Three-Year ECF Arrangement. Economic activity in Burkina Faso continued to grow at a brisk pace in 2013. Program performance remains strong. Revenue performance remains on target, but is no longer overshooting targets as in recent years, while spending execution is below target. Almost all program targets were met, including on net domestic financing and the fiscal balance. All structural benchmarks slated for completion in June and September were also met. The IMF staff supports completion of the seventh review of the current ECF arrangement and the authorities’ request for a new three-year ECF arrangement with access equivalent to 45 percent of quota.
Notes: Also Available in French
February 7, 2014
Malawi: Third and Fourth Reviews Under the Extended Credit Facility Arrangement, Request for Waivers for Non-observance of Performance Criteria, Extension of the Arrangement, Rephasing of Disbursements, and Modification of Performance Criteria-Staff Report; Staff Supplement; Press Release on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for Malawi
Description: This Supplement Information focuses on recent developments regarding the Malawi government’s response to the recent fiscal scandal and on the implementation of two remaining prior actions. The IMF staff welcomes the continued progress in implementing remedial actions to address the recent fraud and actions by the authorities toward meeting the end-December 2013 quantitative targets. The IMF staff also welcomes the interim forensic audit report. Although it did not contain all the information sought by the IMF staff, it had enough to assure the IMF staff that the remedial measures being implemented by the authorities to strengthen system controls and financial management are in the right areas. Some risks remain. It will be important to cautiously implement the fiscal spending program to preserve buffers, lest the final audit reveal slightly larger fund misappropriation.
February 7, 2014
Togo: Staff Report for 2013 Article IV Consultation
Description: This Debt Sustainability Analysis update highlights Togo’s continued moderate risk of debt distress. After full Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) assistance, Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative, and beyond HIPC assistance, Togo’s external and public debt indicators improved significantly in 2010/11 and remained stable under the previous Extended Credit Facility–supported program. In 2012, Togo contracted significant external debt. Although debt indicators are projected to remain below the policy-relevant indicative thresholds in the 20-year period under the baseline scenario, Togo remains vulnerable to certain shocks and could breach the policy-relevant thresholds for the present value (PV) of debt to GDP, PV of debt to exports, PV of debt to revenue, and debt-service-to-revenue ratios under some alternative scenarios in the outer years.
Notes: Also Available in French
February 5, 2014
Algeria: Selected Issues
Description: This Selected Issues paper examines the options and strategies for designing a fiscal framework for Algeria. It suggests that given the expected lifetime of hydrocarbon reserves, ensuring long-term sustainability and saving for future generations should be the priorities of fiscal policy. The fiscal framework also needs to be supported by an adequate institutional arrangement. Overall, the reserves management capacity should be strengthened. The budget law needs to incorporate the new fiscal rule and define the way to enforce it. For the sake of smooth transition, the management of the sovereign wealth fund should be the responsibility of the central bank, which already has the capacity and experience in reserves management.
February 4, 2014
Cambodia: Staff Report for the 2013 Article IV Consultation
Description: This Debt Sustainability Analysis update highlights Cambodia’s continued low debt distress rating: all debt burden indicators are projected to remain below the respective thresholds. The authorities have made progress in monitoring their potential contingent liabilities and strengthening debt management. Consistent with the Debt Management Strategy adopted in 2012, there has been progress in monitoring potential contingent liabilities, including those related to power generation and distribution projects under public-private partnerships that receive government guarantees. The latest estimates show that the total investment of all projects amounted to about $3.2 billion (about 25 percent of GDP in 2012), lower than the previous estimate of about 50 percent of GDP in 2011.
February 4, 2014
Algeria: Staff Report for the 2013 Article IV Consultation
Description: This Informational Annex highlights that data provision in Algeria has some shortcomings, but is broadly adequate for surveillance. Data are published with a delay of less than one month. Key shortcomings in government finance statistics include insufficient institutional coverage, classification problems, long lags for production of statistics, and lack of reconciliation of financing with the monetary accounts. Key factors behind these weaknesses include the lack of financial resources allocated to the compilation of statistics, insufficient interagency coordination, and concern about accuracy that give rise to reluctance to publish provisional data. Monetary statistics compiled by the authorities are largely in line with the methodology in the 2000 Monetary and Financial Statistics Manual and its companion 2008Compilation Guide.
February 4, 2014
Mali: Technical Assistance Report - Automatic Fuel Pricing Mechanism
Description: This Technical Assistance Report on Mali discusses automatic pricing mechanism options and identifies issues that need to be addressed for the application of such a mechanism. Mali stands to benefit from moving from the current discretionary approach to fuel product pricing to a transparent and automatic price adjustment mechanism. Although smoothing can help to mitigate the adverse impact of price increases and volatile international fuel prices, additional supporting policies are warranted. In particular, an effective safety net is required to protect the poorest and most vulnerable groups from the adverse impacts of sizeable domestic fuel price increases.
Notes: Also Available in French
February 3, 2014
Canada: Selected Issues
Description: This Selected Issues paper looks at the factors behind the accumulation of cash positions by Canadian nonfinancial corporations. Focusing only on listed firms and running a model of changes in cash holdings suggest that greater macroeconomic and business uncertainty may have induced firms to raise the cash buffer at their disposal over the last decade. This is especially the case for firms in the energy and mining sector, which account for the majority of cash accumulation in the sample used in current analysis. The analysis also shows that firms’ high cash balances are typically associated with higher levels of capital expenditure, which bodes well for the acceleration of business investment in the near future.
February 3, 2014
Canada: 2013 Article IV Consultation
Description: This Informational Annex highlights the Canadian authorities’ free-floating exchange rate regime. The exchange rate regime is free from exchange restrictions and multiple currency practices. The Canadian authorities do not maintain margins with respect to exchange transactions. However, the authorities may intervene to ensure orderly conditions in the exchange market. There are no taxes or subsidies on purchases or sales of foreign exchange. Canada’s exchange system is free of restrictions on the making of payments and transfers for current international transactions. Canada also maintains exchange restrictions for security reasons, based on UN Security Council resolutions reported to the IMF for approval.