Country Reports
2024
June 26, 2024
Zambia: Third Review Under the Arrangement Under the Extended Credit Facility, Requests for Augmentation of Access, Modifications of the Monetary Policy Consultation Clause and of Quantitative Performance Criteria, and Financing Assurances Review-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Zambia
Description: Zambia faces a severe drought that has significantly impacted agriculture and electricity generation and affected a substantial share of the population, leading the President to declare it a national disaster emergency and plan a revision of the 2024 Budget. Despite these challenges, the government remains focused on supporting macroeconomic stability, restoring fiscal and debt sustainability, and addressing humanitarian needs. The government continues to work with its external creditors to restructure its debt in line with program parameters. While mobilizing external financing, exchange rate flexibility will help manage balance-of-payment pressures. Enhancing regulatory frameworks and financial oversight is crucial for financial stability and inclusion, with efforts to improve governance and advance structural reforms continuing to enhance growth.
June 25, 2024
United Republic of Tanzania: Third Review Under the Extended Credit Facility Arrangement and Request for Extension of the Extended Credit Facility Arrangement and Rephasing of Access, and Request for an Arrangement Under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for the United Republic of Tanzania
Description: Context and outlook. Economic growth is recovering from the impact of the unfavorable global economic environment and domestic factors. Growth is expected to continue strengthening, supported by improvements in the business environment and subsiding global commodity prices. Inflation is projected to remain within the central bank’s target range. Growth-friendly fiscal consolidation is underway, anchored by the ECF arrangement, and the current account deficit is narrowing reflecting fiscal consolidation, easing commodity prices, and tight external financing conditions. The medium-term outlook is positive contingent on implementation of the authorities’ reform agenda, anchored by the ECF arrangement. Climate change poses a major threat, as Tanzania is highly vulnerable but not well-prepared to address the effects of climate change.
June 24, 2024
Luxembourg: Financial Sector Assessment Program—Technical Note on Investment Funds: Regulation and Supervision
Description: The Investment Funds (IFs) industry in Luxembourg dominates the domestic financial sector and the EU funds landscape. The Assets Under Management (AUM) of the IF industry in Luxembourg is around 80 times its GDP, much higher than banking (13 times GDP) and insurance (3 times GDP). Based on IF domicile, Luxembourg has the largest fund industry by AUM in Europe, followed by Ireland; it is also the second largest fund industry in the world, next only to the USA.
June 24, 2024
Luxembourg: Financial Sector Assessment Program—Technical Note on Macroprudential Policy Framework, Tools, and Calibration
Description: Strong policy support and high financial buffers are helping the financial sector weather the consecutive shocks, but pre-pandemic vulnerabilities have continued to rise. Ultra loose financial conditions, in part as a consequence of ECB’s monetary policy, have contributed to increased households’ indebtedness and stretched asset prices. Specifically, real estate prices had grown rapidly over 2018–22 with signs of overvaluation. Households’ indebtedness continued to rise, although partly mitigated by high households’ net wealth. These mounting real estate vulnerabilities prompted measures from the authorities, including on the macroprudential front, that bolstered the resilience of the banking sector but had mixed effects on the risk profile of new mortgages. The average LTV has dropped but the impact on DSTI and DTI has been more muted.
June 24, 2024
Bangladesh: Second Reviews Under the Extended Credit Facility Arrangement and the Arrangement Under the Extended Fund Facility, and Requests for Rephasing of Access, a Waiver of Nonobservance of a Performance Criterion, and Modifications of a Performance Criterion, and Second Review Under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility Arrangement-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Bangladesh
Description: The Bangladesh economy continues to face multiple challenges. Persistently high international commodity and food prices and global uncertainties have amplified macroeconomic vulnerabilities. A sudden reversal of the financial account intensified pressures on foreign exchange reserves and the exchange rate, calling for a reinvigoration of the reform momentum.
June 24, 2024
Luxembourg: Financial Sector Assessment Program—Technical Note on Selected Issues in Banking Supervision
Description: This review1 examines specific aspects of the banking supervision regime in Luxembourg focusing on the supervision by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) of Less Significant Institutions (LSIs). In addition to updating the findings of the previous Technical Note of 2017, it examines the CSSF’s supervisory approach to liquidity risk, interest rate risk in the banking book (IRRBB), operational risk, and related-party exposures.
June 24, 2024
Luxembourg: Financial Sector Assessment Program—Technical Note on Insurance Regulation and Supervision
Description: The insurance sector in Luxembourg is very large and serves as a European hub, specifically in the non-life (re)insurance sector and in unit-linked life insurance. Sector assets equaled EUR 289bn in June 2023, corresponding to 372 percent of GDP, significantly higher than in other European peers, Luxembourg insurance business is conducted mainly cross-border, both in the life and the non-life sector. The sector’s international role has been strengthened further after the Brexit vote when several U.K. insurers resettled to Luxembourg to continue cross-border business in the EEA through the passporting system. Business underwritten for domestic risks represents only 6 percent of the sector’s total technical provisions. Both the life and the non-life sector have undergone some consolidation recently, and most Luxembourgish insurers are subsidiaries of foreign groups.
June 24, 2024
Switzerland: 2024 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; Informational Annex; and Statement by the Executive Director for Switzerland
Description: Growth is recovering gradually (projected at 1.3 percent in 2024) after slowing in 2023 (0.8 percent). A tight monetary stance and disinflation abroad have brought inflation within SNB’s 0–2 percent price stability range, and the SNB lowered its policy rate in March 2024, ahead of other major central banks. The external current account has remained in surplus but declined, while the general government surplus declined in 2023. Fiscal fundamentals are strong with low debt levels, but mounting spending pressures and remaining future financing gaps in the pension system, including stemming from the recent vote on a 13th monthly pension payment, need to be addressed. The state-facilitated acquisition of Credit Suisse (CS) by UBS stabilized markets, and the authorities have published reform proposals based on their review of the transaction and the TBTF framework. Negotiations with the EU restarted. Climate policy progressed. Medium-term challenges include labor shortages and skill gaps.
June 24, 2024
Luxembourg: Financial Sector Assessment Program—Technical Note on Stress Testing and Systemic Risk Analysis
Description: The Luxembourg financial system is highly interconnected, diverse and complex. It has displayed a high level of resilience in the past but currently faces a backdrop of heightened economic, financial, and geopolitical uncertainty. Investment funds have grown since the 2017 FSAP, while their connections to other funds, banks, nonbank financial intermediaries, and foreign entities have also increased. The domestic banks are exposed to the ongoing downturn in credit and house price cycles, especially in the high-risk mortgage segment with floating-rate loans. Securities portfolios in large banks are mostly held-to-maturity and spread across euro area issuers. Against the risks, the financial system maintains higher capital ratios than euro area peers, has low but rising nonperforming loans, and benefits from government support measures to the private sector from an AAA-rated sovereign.