Country Reports
2013
September 5, 2013
Uzbekistan: 2012 Article IV Consultation
Description: This paper discusses 2012 Article IV Consultation of Republic of Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan has been experiencing strong momentum in economic growth supported by sustained public investment and increased prices for commodity exports. The IMF report suggests that it is important to ease the restrictiveness of the foreign exchange and trade regimes, as it impedes the development of the financial and private sectors and distorts resource allocation. Improvement economic data quality and transparency should also be a high- priority item in the action list.
September 5, 2013
Sweden: 2013 Article IV Consultation
Description: This 2013 Article IV Consultation highlights Sweden’s economic growth and policies. Sweden’s economy appears to be slowing together with its main Nordic and European trading partners. The IMF report discusses that there is a scope to improve the fiscal framework, by ensuring it remains sufficiently countercyclical. Given the importance of Swedish banks for the region, improving financial stability in Sweden would also contribute to financial stability across the Nordics, as would additional progress toward cross-border burden-sharing agreements. Structural reforms are also expected to add to resilience and growth.
September 5, 2013
Sweden: Selected Issues
Description: This 2013 Article IV Consultation examines the performance of Sweden’s fiscal policies to counter effects of global financial crisis. Economic growth in Sweden has been moderate since global financial crisis of 2008–2009. The IMF report posits that with potential growth moderately weaker and the natural rate of unemployment to remain elevated, policies should focus on growth-enhancing reforms, especially in the labor market. It suggests that good policies that secure the soundness of Swedish international banking groups are expected to benefit borrowers not only in Sweden but across the region.
September 5, 2013
Nordic Regional Report: 2013 Cluster Consultation
Description: This paper examines 2013 Cluster Consultation—a Nordic Regional IMF staff report. Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden that form the Nordic region share a set of strong economic and social institutions and policies, with emphasis on education, high income equality, high employment, innovative and competitive business environment, etc. The IMF report suggests that strong national financial sector policies and regional cooperation would help mitigate common challenges and shared risks. Cooperative regional policies, such as introducing binding macroprudential minima and clear ex ante burden-sharing arrangements are expected to help limit the costs from any large bank failures.
September 5, 2013
Nordic Regional Report: Selected Issues
Description: This Selected Issues paper elaborates findings and discussions of 2013 Cluster Consultation Nordic Regional report. The countries have close economic and financial ties and face some common challenges and shared risks, such as large banking sectors and high household debt. The economic performance of the four continental Nordic economies (Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden—Nordic-4) ranks among the advanced economic development circle. It is analyzed that the large Nordic banking systems support relatively high levels of private sector debt. House price developments in the Nordic-4 pose a risk to broader macroeconomic stability in the context of strained household balance sheets.
September 5, 2013
Norway: Selected Issues
Description: This paper focuses on Norway’s 2013 Article IV Consultation on economic policies to enhance long-term competitiveness. The success of the oil sector has created new competitiveness challenges. The IMF report states that rapid increases in oil wealth are also adding further pressures on the economy despite sound oil revenue management anchored by a fiscal rule. It also highlights that a slower rate of spending could better align the expected fiscal transfers with the expected long run aging- related costs that peak only after oil production is largely over.
September 5, 2013
Norway: 2013 Article IV Consultation
Description: This 2013 Article IV Consultation highlights that Norwegian economy has been performing well, with mainland GDP growing steadily. However, the continuing buildup of assets in the sovereign wealth fund and the increasing share of the mainland economy that is supplying goods and services to the oil sector are leading to competitiveness pressures in other industries exposed to international competition. The IMF staff report suggests that inflation is expected to be below target for some time and gradually rise to the target in the medium term.
September 1, 2013
Republic of Mozambique: Technical Assistance Report on General Plan for Public Accounting - August 2013 version
Description: [This report is only available in Portuguese] The report assesses the new General Public Accounting Plan, including a comparison with international accounting standards and with the recommendations of previous missions in this area. Additionally, it follows up on recommendations to improve the General State Account.
August 29, 2013
India: Financial Sector Assessment Program—Detailed Assessments Report on Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision
Description: This paper discusses the findings of the assessments on Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision in India. The Reserve Bank of India is to be commended for its tightly controlled regulatory and supervisory regime, consisting of higher than minimum capital requirements; frequent, hands-on, and comprehensive onsite inspections; and a conservative liquidity risk policy and restrictions on banks’ capacity to take on more volatile exposures. Despite this strong performance, several gaps and constraints in the implementation of the regulatory and supervision framework remain. The most significant gaps are in the area of international and, to a lesser extent, domestic supervisory information sharing and cooperation.
August 29, 2013
India: Financial Sector Assessment Program—Detailed Assessments Report on IOSCO Objectives and Principles of Securities Regulation
Description: This paper discusses findings of the assessments on International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) Objectives and Principles of Securities Regulation for India. India exhibits significant progress in the implementation of the IOSCO Principles vis-à-vis the assessment concluded in 2000. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) faces three main challenges that altogether impact the effectiveness of the supervisory programs for issuers and securities intermediaries: strengthening the supervision approach toward securities intermediaries, improving mechanisms to ensure compliance of issuers with reporting requirements, and mechanisms to ensure compliance with accounting and auditing requirements. SEBI is aware of such challenges, and some measures are currently being implemented to address them.