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
August 8, 2023
Maldives: Developing a Legal, Policy and Operational Framework for the Sovereign Development Fund
Description: This High-Level Summary technical assistance report focuses on developing a legal, policy and operational framework for the sovereign development fund (SDF) in Maldives. Until the fiscal situation in Maldives improves, the SDF could continue to usefully serve the twin objectives of external debt repayment and credit enhancement. It has helped boost investor confidence, enabling Maldives continued access to international financial markets, and come in handy for liquidity management during the pandemic. Decisions are required on the size of the SDF, the treatment of any excess inflows, and the application of the Fund’s balance upon its liquidation. While the fund size of a sinking fund would correspond to the underlying debt, a credit enhancement objective would consider a combination of factors, such as market conditions, credit standing, liabilities covered by the fund, and the medium-term debt strategy. A strong governance framework would enhance the legitimacy, performance, and accountability of the IMF.
June 30, 2023
Republic of San Marino: Report on the Financial Soundness Indicators and Monetary and Financial Statistics Technical Assistance Mission
Description: This paper presents the report on the financial soundness indicators (FSI) and monetary and financial statistics (MFS) technical assistance mission in San Marino. The mission reviewed and updated the bridge tables that are used to compile the FSIs for transmission to the statistics department (STA). Source data for compiling FSIs for commercial banks are adequate and generally meet the criteria established by the 2019 FSIs Guide for publication in the IMF’s FSI data portal. The mission also recommends updating the metadata accompanying the publication of revised FSIs. Because of the mission, the Central Bank of San Marino should be able to implement the new FSI Standardized Reports, FSI Institutional Coverage and FSI Metadata. The mission also reviewed the treatment of banks in liquidation in the compilation of MFS, particularly the recent case of banks in suspension of payments. A timeframe for reporting new FSI report forms and revised MFS data to STA has also been discussed and agreed on with the authorities.
June 16, 2023
Curaçao and Sint Maarten: Report on the Financial Soundness Indicators
Description: This paper discusses the high-level summary technical assistance report for Curaçao and Sint Maarten on financial soundness indicators (FSI). 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. The mission, in collaboration with the staff of the Centrale Bank van Curaçao en Sint Maarten (CBCS), successfully developed bridge tables to compile FSIs for commercial banks and savings banks, which could be linked in the long term with its database to automate the FSIs compilation process. The mission also identified a few areas for improvements related to the data collection framework for the deposit takers to be implemented in the medium term. As a result of the mission, the CBCS is able to start reporting the FSI-standard reports, financial soundness metadata, and financial soundness institutional coverage for dissemination on the IMF’s FSI website for Curaçao and Sint Maarten. A timeframe for implementing the mission recommendations including reporting FSIs to statistics department was also discussed and agreed on with the CBCS staff.
June 15, 2023
Costa Rica: Sovereign Asset and Liability Management – Scoping Mission
Description: This paper presents high-level summary technical assistance report on sovereign asset and liability management (SALM) for Costa Rica. Aided by a 36-month Extended Fund Facility in place since March 2021, Costa Rica’s reform efforts toward strong, inclusive, and sustainable growth are showing tangible results. A comprehensive SALM framework can have significant advantages over separate management of sovereign assets and liabilities. It allows for analysis of the financial characteristics of the whole balance sheet of the sovereign, identification of sources of costs and risks, and quantification of the correlations among these sources. Implementing a full SALM framework can be challenging, but countries have applied it with a range of scope and policy objectives. This balance sheet analysis is a first step to developing a consolidated sovereign balance sheet. The central bank of Costa Rica’s balance sheet has negative equity and significant USD assets and liabilities. Most state-owned enterprises are in reasonably good financial health and can fund some investment from their retained earnings, and the state-owned banks are profitable and liquid, and reflect dollarization in the economy.
May 26, 2023
Mongolia: Central Bank Communications
Description: This paper presents High-Level Summary Technical Assistance (TA) report on Mongolia Central Bank Communications. The TA report reviews the existing communication framework of Bank of Mongolia (BOM). The analysis focuses on the assessment of the monetary and financial policy communications as well as the evaluation of the internal organization of the BOM’s communication function. The organizational arrangements are reviewed in terms of structure, resources, and procedures. The report also highlights the importance of establishing several pre-conditions for effective central bank communications, which include the presence of sound legal and normative frameworks particularly in relation to the mandate and independence of the central bank. The report identifies several areas where BOM could enhance the effectiveness of its communications. Creating a dedicated well-staffed department in charge of communications and integrating this department into major BOM’s policy actions and flagship reports would significantly strengthen the BOM’s internal organization of communications.
May 12, 2023
Philippines: Developing a Regulatory and Supervisory Framework for Operational Resilience
Description: This paper discusses Philippines’ Summary Technical Assistance Report series that provides high-level summaries of the assistance provided to IMF capacity development recipients, describing the high-level objectives, findings, and recommendations. Responding to a request from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for developing a regulatory and supervisory framework for operational resilience, a Technical Assistance mission aided the authorities in identifying regulatory gaps, provided guidance in enhancing the regulatory framework and delivered a training program focusing on regulatory aspects pertaining to operational resilience. The recommendations focused on articulating the case for policy initiative, developing a regulation in consultation with the industry, considering potential severe but plausible scenarios. The report recommends identifying and addressing regulatory gaps in existing regulations on corporate governance, information and communication technology/cyber risk, outsourcing, business continuity management, and operational risk management from an operational resilience perspective based on the feedback and the inputs provided.
April 17, 2023
Trinidad and Tobago: Strengthening Cybersecurity in Financial Institutions
Description: This technical assistance report focuses on strengthening cybersecurity in financial institutions in Trinidad and Tobago. Cybersecurity governance at The Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago (CBTT) is set up according to generally accepted practices with recently updated policies and procedures. Information Technology (IT) governance responsibilities comingled with the second line of defense, resource constraints, information security function reporting to IT function, and less focus on payment systems other than SWIFT were some of the concerns identified by the Mission. The Identity and Access Management (IAM) project is in the preparatory stage, and the project arrangements were comparable to good practices observed elsewhere. CBTT’s regulatory environment on cyber is marked by instructions being part of several guidelines in an indirect way in the absence of a dedicated guidance on the subject. The seminar on cyber risk regulation contributed to building capacity to draft a guideline on the topic. Supervisory practices pertaining to cyber risk need strengthening with focus on addressing resource constraints, conducting regular risk-based onsite examinations, and setting up offsite supervision capabilities. The mission recommendations focused on strengthening the cyber posture of the CBTT as well as the financial institutions supervised by CBTT.
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.