Climate change poses three specific but interrelated policy challenges: climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation (which includes building up resilience) and managing transition risks. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a multilateral institution with global reach and...

In October 2021, the MEF asked Congress for the delegation of powers to legislate on tax matters with the aim of increasing tax collections and doing so by adding progressivity to the Peruvian tax system. The initiative being developed by the MEF contains (tentatively, to date) around 40...

In response to a request from the authorities and as part of the Data for Decisions (D4D)1 funded project under the submodule for Fiscal and Debt reporting, a government finance statistics (GFS) technical assistance (TA) mission was held remotely with the Lesotho Ministry of Finance (MOF) during...

This virtual technical assistance (TA) mission supported the Agency in strengthening certain elements of its risk based supervisory framework. The mission focused on assisting the Agency with its development of internal supervisory methodologies for assessing a bank's ICAAP, and for setting...

This report summarizes key findings and recommendations of two off-site visits made by Mr. Benoit Wiest, Public Financial Management Advisor at METAC, and Ms. Katja Funke, Expert, between December 2020 and April 2021. The mission worked with the Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) unit to develop...

Housing is vital in facilitating a return to normality following a disaster; however, it remains one of the most challenging and problematic areas of post-disaster assistance. There is a pressing need to unpack “Build Back Better” aspirations to understand the drivers of safe housing...

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) was signed on 15 November 2020 by 15 Asian-Pacific countries (ASEAN-Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam-, and China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand),...

At the request of the authorities, a remote multi-topic statistics diagnostic mission for Uzbekistan took place during March 1-19, 2021.1 In close cooperation with officials of the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Statistics (SSC), the Central Bank of Uzbekistan (CBU), and the...

The purpose of the mission was to assist the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat) with continuing its modernization of the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This was the first technical assistance (TA) mission to Georgia to specifically focus on scanner data (SD). Two earlier missions on...

At the request of the IMF's African Department (AFR) and the Bank of Cabo Verde (BCV), a monetary and financial statistics (MFS) remote technical assistance (TA) mission from the IMF's Statistics Department (STA) took place during January 18-29, 2021. The main objective of the mission was to...

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) was signed on 15 November 2020 by 15 Asian-Pacific countries (ASEAN-Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam-, and China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand),...

At the request of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) and in consultation with the Africa Department (AFR) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a remote Government Finance Statistics (GFS) mission from the Statistics Department (STA) took place in Madagascar from October 26 to...

Reflecting an ongoing commitment to enhancing fiscal transparency, Maldives is the first small island state, and the second country in Asia, to have undertaken a Fiscal Transparency Evaluation (FTE). The Government of the Maldives (GoM) recognizes the importance of transparency in fiscal...

In response to a request from the Government of Kenya, an AFRITAC East (AFE) government finance statistics (GFS) technical assistance (TA) mission was conducted in Nairobi, Kenya, during October 7-16, 2019. The primary objective of the mission was to support staff in improving the quality of...

Based on technical assistance to central banks by the IMF's Monetary and Capital Markets Department and Information Technology Department, this paper examines fintech and the related area of cybersecurity from the perspective of central bank risk management. The paper draws on findings from the...

We use a unique data set for 115 countries, from 2000-18, and 5-year non-overlapping averages to explore the impact of technical assitance on revenue mobilization. To the authors' knowledge this is the first such effort to determine a direct relationship between technical assistance and the...

An external sector statistics (ESS) mission visited Djibouti from January 26-30, 2020. This was the fourth mission under the JSA/AFR project to improve ESS in 17 Francophone African countries. The mission found that significant data on direct investment (DI) have not been incorporated in either...

The gradual return to peace in the Central African Republic (CAR) promises stronger and more equitable growth. Nonetheless, the country faces serious constraints with a security situation that remains vulnerable and an economy in the throes of reconstruction, including in terms of the...

At the request of the Superintendency of Banks of Panama (SBP), and with the support of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF's) Western Hemisphere Department (WHD), a monetary and financial statistics (MFS) remote technical assistance (TA) mission from the IMF's Statistics Department (STA)...

Iraq is substantially exposed to fiscal risks related to guarantees issued by the State, with a stock of guarantees related to foreign currency service payments and debt of USD 21.7 billion at end-June 2017 and a stock of domestic guarantees that remains to be fully assessed. In 2017, the...

The Vanuatu National Statistics Office (VNSO) requested a mission by the IMF's Pacific Financial Technical Assistance Centre (PFTAC) for conducting a feasibility study on the implementation of a quarterly national accounts (QNA) in Vanuatu. This study outlines the staff, organizational and data...

Despite the increase in technical cooperation under TRIPS Agreement by developed countries and multilateral institutions, many developing countries have not taken advantage of the flexibilities within the TRIPS Agreement. There is increasing concern that the providers of technical cooperation...

This study investigates the effects of aid grants on inclusive growth in 37 Sub-Saharan African countries for the period 1984-2018. Grant aid is decomposed into aid grants and technical cooperation grants. Two inclusive growth indicators are used namely: gross domestic product (GDP) per capita...

Although many developing countries have experienced growing income inequality and an increase in the relative demand for skilled workers during the 1980s, the sources of this trend remain a puzzle. This paper examines whether investment and adoption of skill-biased technology have contributed to...

Financial incentives for students, teachers, and schools are often used to promote learning. Yet, little is known about whether similar incentives for mayors produce analogous findings. This paper investigates this question by exploring a results-based financing reform in Ceara, Brazil, which...

When international organizations expand and proliferate, why do they fail to spread more evenly in their policy sphere? To answer this question, this article builds on organizational ecology theory, which was recently introduced into the study of international organizations. However, rather than...

The ENSSURE project entails a component of introducing a Dual VET-Apprenticeship in Nepal. This new formal upper secondary education programme combines about one day of classroom education with about five days of workplace training each week for two years. While this project is in its pilot...

The ENSSURE project entails a component of introducing a Dual VET-Apprenticeship in Nepal. This new formal upper secondary education programme combines about one day of classroom education with about five days of workplace training each week for two years. While this project is in its pilot...

The survey explores the working arrangements and earnings that apprentices received during 2018-19. The survey included almost 10,000 telephone interviews with apprentices enrolled on a course in Great Britain. The report provides statistics on apprentices': working arrangements, basic hourly...

A technical assistance (TA) mission led by Mr. Fahd Ndiaye, Resident Adviser in Real Sector Statistics for AFRITAC West, visited Lome from January 27 to 31, 2020, to assess the national accounts for the new base year 2016 with the National Institute of Statistics and Economic and Demographic...

The level of public investment in Belize has varied over the past years in the context of existing constraints. The sharp increase in public debt has limited available fiscal space.1 This has resulted in an increase in externally financed investments as a share of the capital budget and a...

This mission, a follow up to the earlier mission from IMF AFRITAC South (AFS) conducted in March 2017 (STX Mr. Bernie Egan), was designed to further help the authorities in the implementation of Basel II and select elements of Basel III. The main objectives of the mission were to help the CBL...

Georgia's public sector balance sheet (PSBS) is in relatively healthy shape, with assets exceeding liabilities, and is comparatively lean. Looking across all entities that the government controls, including the central government, local governments, the State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) sector and...

The main purpose of the mission was to continue TA to assist with upgrading the compilation and dissemination of fiscal data and GFS in Vietnam in line with the international standard, the Government Finance Statistics Manual 2014 (GFSM 2014)