High-Level Summary Technical Assistance Reports
The High-Level Summary Technical Assistance Report series provides high-level summaries of the assistance provided to IMF capacity development recipients, describing the high-level objectives, findings, and recommendations.
2023
March 17, 2023
BOTSWANA: Domestic Bond Market Development
Description: This paper discusses high-level summery technical assistance report that focuses on Botswana’s domestic bond market development. The implementation of a new monetary policy framework to support the Bank of Botswana’s (BoB) inflation targeting regime is a welcome development for domestic debt market development. There is significant scope to make progress on the authorities’ goal to shift funding from nonconcessional external borrowing to the domestic bond market. Coordination between debt management and liquidity management should be enhanced to facilitate the expansion of the domestic debt market. Material improvements in the secondary market will take more time to bear fruit, and efforts in this area should be sequenced after building blocks that are more foundational are operating more efficiently. Measures to develop the domestic debt market are likely to result temporarily in higher funding costs, but this is a necessary investment in the process and will likely be counterbalanced by lower financing costs in the medium-to-long term.
February 23, 2023
Jordan: Retail Central Bank Digital Currency Exploration
Description: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) analyzed the retail payments markets of Jordan to identify pain points that retail Central Bank Digital Currency (rCBDC) could address. Retail payment systems in Jordan are highly integrated, enabling customers to make interoperable transactions between banks and non-bank Payment Service Providers (PSPs).1 The country’s cross-border remittance market is competitive, but may benefit from the reduced transactions cost associated with rCBDC. Despite generally accessible and appropriate product offerings and an enabling environment, various barriers prevent customers from extensively using digital means of payment. rCBDC might create an opportunity to overcome these barriers, thus making a cross-border rCBDC worth consideration. However, the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) should rigorously evaluate benefits against risks and costs before forging ahead. Meanwhile, the CBJ should develop capacity to address technology, cybersecurity, financial integrity, and legal issues.