Annexes
Annex 1: JSA Technical Assistance Projects Approved In Fy2009
AFRICA REGION | |||
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Beneficiary | Subject Area | Committed | Description |
Africa—multiple countries | Public Financial Management | $327,304 | Continuation of the Regional Public Financial Management (PFM) Advisor based in Liberia to (1) help the post-conflict country Liberia rebuild a transparent and efficient PFM system; and (2) provide peripatetic assistance to The Gambia, Ghana, and Sierra Leone to carry out their ongoing PFM reforms. |
Africa—multiple countries | Sovereign Asset/ Liability Management | $260,400 | Assist the Bank of the Central African States (BEAC) in establishing a regional public debt market in the Economic Community of Central African States, comprising Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon. Assistance includes providing training and guidance and developing technical and strategic options for the BEAC’s internal unit responsible for managing securities. |
Africa—multiple countries | Monetary and Financial Statistics | $70,000 | A two-week seminar on monetary and financial statistics for Lusophone African countries (Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and Sao Tome and Principe) and Timor-Leste. The seminar was targeted at midlevel officials employed to compile monetary statistics; it was a follow-up on training provided in 2007. The seminar was held at the Bank of Portugal in Lisbon. |
Africa—multiple countries | Macroeconomic Management and Debt | $93,750 | Two-week course on Macroeconomic Management and Debt Issues in French at the Joint African Institute in Tunis. The course covered both the conceptual issues and the practical applications on the links between macroeconomics and debt policies, underlining the need for ensuring sustainable debt. |
Africa—multiple countries | Balance of Payment External Sector Statistics | $70,000 | To conduct a one-week outreach seminar for senior balance of payments compilers to explain the changes introduced in new Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM6). The course provides participants the opportunity to comment on any issues related to the implementation of the new methodology prior to the finalization and publication of BPM6 at end-2008. The seminar will take place in Accra, Ghana and was offered to twenty Anglophone African countries (Botswana, Eritrea, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia) and three representatives from the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management. |
Africa—multiple countries | Real Sector Statistics | $294,400 | A continuation of a regional advisor based at the West Africa Regional Technical Assistance Center (covering Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’lvoire, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Togo) to help countries carry out their plans to improve the quality of real sector statistics as described in their General Data Dissemination System metadata. The project helps national statistical agencies develop self-sustaining systems for collecting required data and compiling and disseminating national accounts and price statistics, consistent with internationally accepted methodologies and practices. |
Africa—multiple countries | Data Dissemination Standards | $79,900 | A two-day technical assistance workshop (held in Dakar, Senegal) to provide General Data Dissemination System (GDDS) coordinators from 20 Francophone and Lusophone African countries with knowledge about the realignment of data categories and the shift in emphasis to develop and disseminate National Summary Data Pages and Advance Release Calendars. The workshop focused on a subset of all the GDDS coordinators to provide a regional focus. |
Africa—multiple countries | National Accounts | $325,804 | Extension of a regional advisor in national accounts statistics (RSA) to Botswana, Mauritius and Namibia, which is a multiyear project. The RSA is stationed at the Central Statistics Office of Botswana and delivers TA to the other two countries through peripatetic missions. An important emphasis in the RSA’s work is providing on-the-job training to staff engaged in the compilation of national accounts statistics. |
Africa—multiple countries | Monetary Statistics | $93,750 | A seminar co-organized by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the IMF on monetary and financial statistics will be held in Durban, South Africa. The seminar will be targeted to managers of monetary statistical programs in the SADC area (14 SADC member countries, excluding Zimbabwe), compilers of monetary statistics and officials of the SADC Secretariat dealing with statistical development in the region. The seminar is designed to further promote work in monetary and financial statistics by providing technical assistance that emphasizes the harmonization of compilation in the SADC region. This will both enhance statistical capacity in the individual countries and contribute to the compilation of regional statistics. Over the medium term, this is expected to support the development of the SADC monetary union. |
Africa—multiple countries | Macroeconomic Management and Financial Sector (MMF) Issues | $50,000 | A two-week MMF course, jointly offered with West AFRITAC and delivered by the IMF Institute, for Francophone African country officials to examine the policy choices confronting authorities in developing and emerging market economies and the options available to policymakers, with special attention to how financial sector issues interact with macroeconomic management in sub-Saharan Africa. |
Africa—multiple countries | External Vulnerabilitie: | $93,750 | Jointly hosted by the IMF Institute and the Bank of the Central African States in Douala, Cameroon, the two-week course aimed to broaden participants’ understanding of external sector vulnerabilities. The course provided the participants with a comprehensive set of analytical tools for assessing these vulnerabilities and appropriate policy responses. |
Africa—multiple countries | Financial Programming and Policies (FPP) | $93,750 | The FPP course to be held in Dakar, Senegal, in cooperation with the Banque Centrale des États de 1’Afrique de 1’Ouest, to train participants in how to design an appropriate set of policy measures in the context of a comprehensive macroeconomic adjustment program. |
Africa—multiple countries | Financial Programming and Policies (FPP) | $93,750 | The two-week training course, to be held in Ghana in August 2008, aimed at strengthening understanding of the design and implementation of macroeconomic and financial policies among the five West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management member countries (The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone). Specific policies were presented in a comprehensive macroeconomic framework, emphasizing the complementarity of stabilization policies and structural reforms and the importance of policy coordination for sustained growth. |
Africa—multiple countries | Financial Programming and Policies (FPP) | $93,750 | The FPP course is aimed at midlevel officials of the five West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management member countries. Held in Abuja, Nigeria, in July 2009, the course trained participants involved with economic or financial analysis in ministries of finance, economy, or planning; central banks; or similar institutions on how to design an appropriate set of policy measures in the context of a comprehensive macroeconomic adjustment program. |
Africa—multiple countries | Fiscal Law and Policy | $59,800 | Short-term expert visits to strengthen the tax regimes in selected African countries, including the three Lusophone countries (Cape Verde, Mozambique and São Tome and Principe), Burundi, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Uganda. The projects primarily involve the preparation of draft legislation focused on (1) refashioning tax procedures and individual income and corporate tax regulations; (2) streamlining tax incentives; and (3) introducing or amending the value-added tax code. In Uganda, given its discovery of commercially viable oil and gas reserves, the legal drafting projects are related to the taxation of oil and gas. |
Africa—multiple countries | Financial Programming and Policies Course | $70,000 | Two-week course on financial programming and policies, to be held in Uganda for the Macroeconomic and Financial Management Institute of Eastern and Southern Africa for participant countries (Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe). The course program will follow the standard financial programming and policies format and include a mixture of lectures and workshops on accounts, analysis, and forecasting in the four macroeconomic sectors (real, external, fiscal, and monetary), as well as a financial programming exercise. |
Burkina Faso | Public Financial Management (PFM) | $62,114 | Assist Burkina Faso, a member country of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), through two peripatetic expert missions to Ouagadougou. WAEMU has revised PFM directives for its member countries to introduce modern concepts; therefore, the missions focused on finalizing Burkina Faso’s medium-term PFM strategy and implementing an action plan for the introduction of program-based budgeting. The missions were a follow-up to a 2007 mission. |
Burundi | Revenue Administration | $62,114 | Burundi’s customs department and tax administration needed strengthening with its accession to the East African Community (EAC), its introduction of a value-added tax and its adoption of the EAC common external tariff during the second half of 2009. Two short-term experts were fielded to help the authorities implement required changes. |
Burundi | Central Bank Operations | $285,804 | Extension of a long-term resident advisor to assist the Central Bank of Burundi to put in place a modernization strategy with a focus on improved liquidity management and monetary operations; a new data management system; and strengthened management capabilities, organizational structure, and work practices. |
Cameroon | Public Financial Management | $59,800 | Assistance to be provided on a pilot basis to two selected ministries in Cameroon in implementing the first phase of performance budgeting through (1) structuring the budget by programs, (2) modernizing budget execution, (3) developing accounting and control rules, (4) clarifying the responsibility structure of budget managers, and (5) improving transparency. |
Cote d’lvoire | Revenue Administration | $59,800 | Two short-term experts to help modernize revenue administration to increase revenue mobilization through (1) strengthening compliance and enforcement functions; (2) further rationalizing procedures, including procedures for import valuation, and duty exemption and transit monitoring; and (3) improving technical skills, human resource management and internal audit. |
Gabon | Revenue Administration | $59,800 | Two short-term expert visits to help Gabon modernize its tax and customs administration, aimed at helping Gabon’s transition from oil revenue dependency to a diversified economy. |
Liberia | Central Bank Operations | $285,804 | Long-term advisor to help the Central Bank of Liberia develop a modern national payment system, consistent with international standards. This is needed to meet the growing needs of the country as strong economic and concomitant financial activities emerge after the post-conflict period. |
Liberia | Public Financial Management (PFM) | $89,700 | Three expert visits to help prepare PFM reforms (a prerequisite for Liberia meeting the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative completion point), focused on the legal framework, namely, (1) regulations, (2) instructions, (3) operating guidelines, and (4) civil service training with the new PFM requirements. |
Madagascar | Central Banking | $119,600 | Four short-term expert visits to assist the Banque Centrale de Madagascar (BCM) in the context of a three-year audit plan until 2010 in building capacity in internal audit. The visits focused on the application of risk management-based auditing with a view to aligning the BCM audit function with best international practices. |
Madagascar | Public Financial Management | $31,057 | Two-week follow-up mission aimed at analyzing the progress made since the JSA-financed peripatetic missions in 2007; to consolidate the reforms in cash management, the mission is further to assist the Malagasy authorities in establishing a sound system of commitment planning and train the relevant line ministries’ staff. |
Madagascar | Revenue Administration | $119,600 | A customs administration expert and a tax administration expert to help the customs and tax departments implement critical initiatives of the reform programs by (1) implementing a customs management information system and improving customs procedures; (2) improving tax operations for medium-sized businesses; and (3) strengthening the management of the overall tax administration reform program. |
Madagascar | Monetary and Exchange Regimes | $124,228 | Four short-term expert visits to help the Banque Centrale de Madagascar (1) build capacity for monetary policy research and analysis, the results of which are expected to guide monetary policy; (2) enhance monetary policy formulation and implementation and thus strengthen macroeconomic management; and (3) increase staff skills through hands-on training in monetary analysis. |
Mali | Revenue Administration | $59,800 | Two short-term experts to help tax officials (1) establish a medium-sized taxpayer office in Bamako to address serious noncompliance issues from this segment of the taxpayer population, (2) simplify the tax system, (3) improve the organization and management of tax offices, and (4) develop compliance programs for all taxpayers. |
Mali | Public Financial Management (PFM) | $124,228 | Four short-term missions on program budgeting to advise the Malian authorities on making program budgeting fully operational over the medium to long term to further strengthen PFM. The mission recommended that Mali (1) adapt the legal and regulatory framework in line with the new West African Economic and Monetary Union directives being finalized; (2) increase consistency between line ministries’ sectoral plans and the overall budget and medium-term budgetary framework process; (3) redefine the roles and responsibilities of the various actors involved in program budgeting; (4) further improve implementation of program budgeting concepts; (5) strengthen PFM, in particular, accounting, reporting, cash management, and information systems; and (6) undertake training activities to gradually overcome capacity constraints. |
Niger | Public Financial Management | $186,342 | A six-month short-term mission to Niamey to help strengthen top-down budgeting and put in place a resident advisor for developing a medium-term budget framework (MTBF) linked to sectoral objectives and the medium-term expenditure frameworks, as outlined in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. The mission laid out a strategy for putting the MTBF at the macro level (total revenues, expenditure and financing, consistent with fiscal sustainability). |
São Tome and Principe | Banking Supervision | $62,114 | Two short-term peripatetic missions to help implement a treasury single account and to define a strategy to implement a capital investment unit in the Ministry of Finance in São Tome. |
Uganda | Revenue Administration | $59,800 | Short-term experts to help the authorities modernize domestic tax administration. The focal areas included (1) advising the alignment of the integrated tax administration system with best tax administration practices; (2) assisting in establishing a medium-taxpayer office and related compliance strategies; (3) developing plans to administer the small taxpayer segment; (4) providing advice on strengthening national audit planning and quality of taxpayer audits; and (5) reviewing the draft tax procedure code and aligning it with new systems and procedures. |
Uganda | Revenue Administration | $93,171 | Three one-month expert visits geared towards (1) providing guidance on effective medium-sized taxpayer management; (2) reviewing the draft tax procedure code and aligning it with new systems and procedures, particularly for oil and other natural resources taxation; and (3) strengthening audit management and quality of domestic taxpayer and import trade audits. |
Zambia | Revenue Administration | $59,800 | Peripatetic visits to help the authorities modernize the tax administration. The areas included (1) improving tax operations based on self-assessment systems and introducing risk-management approaches; (2) establishing a strong domestic tax headquarters function; (3) implementing an effective large-taxpayer office; (4) developing medium-sized-and small-taxpayer segment management systems; and (5) assisting in developing a reform and modernization program for the governance structure. |
ASIA AND PACIFIC REGION | |||
Asia and Pacific—multiple countries | Macroeconomic Management and Structural Adjustment | $500,000 | Continued funding for the training and travel of all Asian participants at the Joint Vienna Institute. Most of these participants come from countries implementing economic programs to redress macroeconomic imbalances or carrying out structural reforms aimed at improving macroeconomic management and promoting transformation to market economies. |
Asia and Pacific—multiple countries | Macroeconomic and Financial Management | $260,400 | Continuation for one JSA-financed long-term expert assigned to the IMF-Singapore Regional Training Institute to conduct courses and workshops in macroeconomic and financial management (including financial programming, monetary and exchange rate policy, and public finance) for mid- to high-level officials from the Asia and Pacific region. |
Asia and Pacific—multiple countries | Macroeconomic and Financial Management | $260,400 | Continuation for one JSA-financed long-term expert assigned to the IMF-Singapore Regional Training Institute to conduct courses and seminars in various aspects of macroeconomic and financial management (including financial programming, monetary and exchange rate policy, and public finance) and other topical areas of current interest to countries in the Asia and Pacific region. |
Asia and Pacific—multiple countries | Tax Policy | $59,800 | The short-term experts will strengthen tax regimes in Bangladesh and Fiji. The project will primarily involve preparing draft legislation and any amendments called for by the authorities, together with explanatory memoranda to ensure that the legislation is well understood. |
Asia and Pacific—multiple countries | Tax Policy | $163,000 | Two-and-a-half day seminar to be held in Tokyo for 34 Asian and Oceanic countries with the cooperation of the IMF’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. The seminar’s main theme is how tax incentives could be used from an optimal tax policy perspective for facilitating sustainable long-term growth following the current financial crisis. The seminar is targeted at high-level officials in tax policy departments of the participating countries. |
Asia and Pacific—multiple countries | Financial Programming and Policies | $250,000 | The IMF-Singapore Regional Training Institute to conduct a total of eight courses for 85 mid- to high-level officials of the Asia-Pacific countries in FY2009. Courses are to cover 150 participant-weeks and include various aspects of macroeconomic and financial management (financial programming, monetary and exchange rate policy, balance of payments, and public finance). |
Asia and Pacific—multiple countries | Real Sector Statistics | $279,513 | This project will finance a series of peripatetic expert missions in Bangladesh and Nepal. In Bangladesh, the expert will focus on improving the quality of annual national accounts estimates, facilitated by a series of new surveys, and improved procedures for using the resulting data. In Nepal, the expert will help produce quarterly GDP data, based on current price and volume data. |
Asia and Pacific—multiple countries | Field Visit to JSA-Supported Projects | $25,000 | Funds were allocated under this project for the costs associated with the JSA Joint Japan-IMF field visit to countries supported by the JSA (see Annex 2). In FY2009 the field visit focused on projects in Cambodia and the IMF-Singapore Regional Training Institute. |
Bangladesh | Central Banking | $89,700 | Three one-month peripatetic expert visits to help the Bangladesh Bank (BB) develop its capacity to implement essential accounting reforms under the International Financial Reporting Standards in (1) upgrading staff skills in the BB’s financial management, reporting processes, and systems; and (2) strengthening the accounting information systems used at the BB. |
Bangladesh | Macro Fiscal Advisor | $119,600 | A perίpatetίc advisor to support developing a new macro-fiscal policy unit by (1) defining its functions and internal structure, as well as its work agenda and outputs; (2) building capacity in macro-fiscal projection techniques, policy development, and monitoring through training of staff and development of work manuals; and (3) helping define the coordination between the new unit and related institutions, as well as the integration of the unit’s outputs in the overall budget process. |
Bangladesh | Bond Market Development | $89,700 | Short-term technical assistance expert to help the authorities promote the development of an active primary and secondary market in government securities to (1) encourage competition, (2) serve as the foundation for the broader development of financial markets in Bangladesh, and (3) further enhance the capacity of the Central Bank to monitor financial market stability and the effectiveness of monetary policy transmission. |
Cambodia | Public Financial Management | $59,800 | Two short-term peripatetic visits to consolidate and extend the existing budget classification system to help the Cambodian authorities in recording government investment in the accounts and accurately recording advances in cash that are made by the National Treasury. |
Cambodia | Public Financial Management | $217,399 | Seven short-term visits until June 2010 to assist the Cambodian government with (1) cash management and short-term cash flow forecasting through the newly established Cash Management Unit; (2) ensuring the operation of a commercial bank pilot project, in which commercial banks could provide government banking services; and (3) establishing a Treasury Single Account through the closing of government bank accounts outside the National Treasury’s control. |
Cambodia | Banking Supervision | $59,800 | Short-term expert to assist the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) in strengthening on-site supervision of banks through on-the-job training for a team of NBC bank examiners. In addition to working with the team through all aspects of an on-site examination, the expert will review and make recommendations for improving supervision manuals and guidance notes. |
Cambodia | Revenue Administration | $179,400 | Short-term experts for 18 weeks to continue helping the Customs and Excise Department implement its reform and modernization plan, including (1) updating regulations and instructions consistent with the proposed new customs law, (2) preparing the installation of the new Asycuda computerized customs clearance system, and (3) developing and introducing procedures and guidelines for the new automated operational environment. |
Cambodia | Banking Supervision | $260,400 | Extension of long-term resident advisor at the National Bank of Cambodia to provide day-today advice and assistance for strengthening NBC’s institutional capacity, with a continuing focus on enhancing off-site surveillance of banks, strengthening the regulatory frame work, and enforcing prudential regulations. |
China | Macroeconomic Management and Financial Sector Issues Course | $29,900 | The expert will assist two IMF Institute staff in delivering a macroeconomic management and financial sector issues course in Dalian, for officials from the People’s Bank of China and data compilers of major commercial banks. The course will focus on IMF methodology (as recommended in its Monetary and Financial Statistics Manual) for collecting, compiling, and reporting monetary data to be used in macroeconomic analysis. |
China | Revenue Administration | $179,400 | Short-term experts will conduct six peripatetic visits to support (1) developing a medium- to long-term strategic plan for taxpayer services; and (2) providing advice and assistance in critical areas (e.g., project governance, enterprise architectural design, and project management) during the development and implementation of the Golden Tax Project. This project is expected to provide increased functionality; for example, to incorporate business processing improvements (particularly those piloted in the Jiangsu Province), integrate the functionality of several smaller stand-alone systems, and, for the first time, provide support to the local tax bureau. |
Indonesia | Banking Supervision | $260,400 | Extension of long-term bank supervision expert to advise Bank Indonesia (BI) in various areas of banking regulation and supervision with a focus on (1) risk-based supervision; (2) Basel II issues; (3) alignment of supervision with the Basel Core Principles; and (4) further development of stress testing at BI. |
Lao People’s Democratic Republic | Revenue Administration | $101,700 | Extension of short-term expert to help the Customs Department complete preparation of the department’s policy and procedures manual, and finalize instructions to fully implement the World Trade Organization customs valuation agreement. |
Maldives | Develop Maldives Monetary Authority Research Capacity | $119,600 | Short-term experts to augment Maldives Monetary Authorities (MMA) research capacity and activities to contribute to economic policymaking and discussions, to effectively carry out monetary policy formulation and implementation, and to assert the MMA’s autonomy. |
Maldives | Public Financial Management (PFM) | $59,800 | Extension of a strategic advisor to the Financial Controller and Minister of Finance up to the first quarter of 2010, to (1) provide quality assurance, (2) assist in redesigning the payment process, and (3) provide guidance on the functionality of appropriate PFM components (the cash management infrastructure and budget reporting formats) in the implementation of Maldives’ new government integrated financial management information system (GIFMIS). The GIFM1S would significantly benefit the central government in fiscal reporting and management. |
Mongolia | Public Financial Management | $94,200 | Three one-month expert visits to assist Mongolia’s Ministry of Finance (MoF) for (1) strengthening budget preparation processes through the integration of the capital budgeting process by enhancing capacities in the MoF and line ministries, and (2) supporting the roll-out of second-generation budget preparation reforms (program budgeting and medium-term budget). |
Mongolia | Capital Market Development | $209,300 | Two experts to provide peripatetic support over twelve months to facilitate capacity building in the Financial Regulatory Commission (FRC) in Mongolia through (1) training FRC staff to supervise the Savings and Credit Cooperatives, insurance companies, capital markets, and other non-banking financial institutions; (2) reviewing the FRC’s funding model; (3) producing industry statistics; (4) introducing risk management and risk-based supervision for non-banking financial institutions; (5) developing capital market regulations; (6) strengthening market infrastructure; and (7) improving the legal environment. |
Mongolia | Public Financial Management | $305,804 | One-year Budget Planning Advisor to be placed in Mongolia’s Ministry of Finance (MoF) to support (1) implementing second-generation budget preparation reforms, including program budgeting and medium-term expenditure frameworks/ forward estimates; (2) improving existing budget processes, including capital budgeting reforms and relations with the new National Development and Reform Agency; and (3) enhancing capacity in MoF and line ministries, through methodological development, manuals and instructions, training, and, where needed, restructuring existing capacities. This work is a build up on three months of peripatetic support provided earlier to the Mongolian authorities. |
Nepal | Public Financial Management | $302,084 | One long-term (10 months) and two short-term expert visits to support Nepal in the first phase of implementation of a Treasury Single Account (TSA) in the central administration. A TSA is a banking arrangement that enables daily consolidation of financial balances at the central bank to facilitate active treasury control over cash flows and stock. TSA will optimize the financial management of government resources while minimizing the cost of government financing. The expert will also translate documents and regulations from Nepalese to English. |
Nepal | Revenue Administration | $209,300 | Seven short-term technical assistance missions will help strengthen the revenue administration with a focus on large taxpayers and customs operations, including its audit capacity. The objective is to develop and implement a comprehensive customs reform strategy and to adequately use the Asycuda computer system and network by implementing operational procedures based on best international practices. |
Papua New Guinea | Central Banking | $155,285 | Eighteen weeks of short-term expert visits to assist the Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG) with (1) improving its reserve management, through the acquisition and installation of software for the management of investment portfolios and risks, and through enhancing the BPNG’s monitoring of the performance of both internally managed funds and funds placed with external managers; and (2) strengthening BPNG’s financial accounting, by upgrading financial management and reporting systems and related internal controls to ensure financial statements are in full compliance with international standards. |
Pacific Financial and Technical Assistance Center (PFTAC) | Revenue Policy and Administration | $310,400 | A PFTAC long-term advisor’s contract was extended to continue helping to implement short- and medium-term programs to reform tax and customs policy and administration, based largely on prior PFTAC technical assistance. The expert will provide diagnostic missions, hands-on TA follow-up missions, and manage and backstop short-term expert assignments of tax and customs experts. Training, seminars, and organization of attachments of Pacific Island country officials to other countries will continue. The advisor will continue to develop PFTAC’s efforts to coordinate with donors and other TA providers, to help ensure uniformity and consistency of approach across the region. |
Pacific Financial and Technical Assistance Center (PFTAC) | Multisector Statistics Advisor | $305,400 | A PFTAC long-term advisor’s contract was extended to continue providing advice and assistance to PFTAC member countries in a broad range of economic and financial statistics, including national accounts, price, employment and salaries, government finance, balance of payments, and monetary and financial statistics, as well as management, infrastructure, and priority setting. The advisor will provide this assistance through various modalities, including advisory visits, training courses and seminars, and facilitating the secondment of officials from the statistical agencies of one PFTAC member country to that of another. The advisor will act as liaison with other regional technical assistance providers. In addition to the delivery of hands-on technical expertise, the PFTAC advisor will continue to use the General Data Dissemination System as the framework for developing projects in the statistics area. |
Philippines | Strengthening Bank Supervision | $260,400 | The long-term advisor will build on achievements to date and drive further improvement in the overall condition of the banking sector by supporting the sustained implementation and ongoing development of the bank supervision program, while continuing to provide day-to-day advice and assistance to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in the development of a central point of contact function, and in facilitating the reorganization of the Supervision and Examination Sector. |
Philippines | Financial Supervision and Regulation | $89,700 | Three short-term missions assisted the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in strengthening its examination and surveillance framework through (1) the assessment of the likely level of compliance with Basel Core Principles; and (2) the assessment and rewriting of the regulations covering credit-risk management and the granting of credit. |
Philippines | Financial Supervision and Regulation | $186,342 | Two peripatetic experts (each for 12 weeks) focused on increasing the internal processing efficiency of banking supervision activities at Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Specifically, the mission strengthened the quality of surveillance by focusing critical human resources on higher-priority matters by supporting an enhanced, standardized training by which new bank examiners are instructed in risk-focused methodologies. |
Thailand | Financial Supervision and Regulation | $62,114 | One short-term expert (in January 2009) to help the Bank of Thailand (BOT) implement Basel II. Under BOT’s banking supervision reform, the expert focused on meeting two key challenges for successfully implementing Basel II: (1) strengthening capacity to assess market risk, and (2) implementing Pillar 2 of Basel II. |
Vietnam | Financial Supervision and Regulation | $260,400 | Long-term resident banking supervisor expert to help the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) in its ongoing effort to strengthen banking regulation and supervision. The expert will focus on (1) upgrading the SBV’s capacity to supervise and regulate banks; (2) providing guidance to SBV staff in implementing major institutional and regulatory reforms to banking supervision; (3) identifying appropriate external training courses to upgrade SBV staff capacity to supervise banks; and (4) helping coordinate donor assistance in the area of banking supervision, with the aim of ensuring consistency and prioritization of reform efforts by donors in this area. |
EUROPEAN REGION | |||
Europe—multiple countries | Regional Workshop on Contingency Planning and War Games | $50,000 | The regional workshop on contingency planning and war games to be held in Vienna was to (1) discuss the key elements of a comprehensive contingency planning framework for financial market crises, (2) elaborate on the conceptual and practical difficulties in establishing and implementing such frameworks, (3) discuss how to organize and carry out “crisis simulations or war games” in a regional context, and (4) create a platform for national supervisory and monetary authorities and experts to exchange views and share experiences. Participants from emerging European countries (Belarus, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Turkey, and Ukraine), and representatives from more developed European countries (Austria, Spain, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, United Kingdom, Greece, and Slovenia) provided perspectives from their experience in this area. |
Europe—southeast Europe | Public Financial Management (PFM) | $203,100 | Long-term PFM advisor posted at the Center of Excellence in Finance to selected member countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia). The advisor focused on (1) ensuring fiscal control and financial discipline, and (2) promoting efficient resource allocation and cost-effective service delivery. |
Albania | Tax Administration | $75,274 | Short-term expert visits to help the General Directorate for Taxation design an information technology (IT) strategy that outlines the requirements for a new IT system and identifies required changes to tax administration business processes. |
Belarus | Medium-Term Budgeting | $65,800 | Two expert visits to Minsk to focus on medium-term budgeting (MTB) to help transition the Belarusian authorities from their Soviet-style budget planning system. Belarus’ exposure with international good practice in MTB has been limited, and the visits will help develop an appropriate model of MTB that will focus on (1) definitions of key concepts, (2) specification of the MTB model, (3) specification of the procedure for the development of the MTB and the manner of its approval, (4) allocation of responsibilities between ministries, and (5) roles and responsibilities of budget managers in the spending ministries. |
Kosovo and Montenegro | National Accounts and Price Statistics | $310,400 | The regional advisor is to concentrate on improving the national accounts statistics compiled by the statistical agencies and in building statistical capacity within the framework of General Data Dissemination System. The advisor is to follow up on the implementation of the project framework summary and review the existing work programs with the authorities. He or she will also assist in establishing an agreed timetable for their implementation and will provide training to the staff in the form of seminars as well as on-the-job training. The advisor is to work with the authorities to further increase cooperation and coordination in statistics among government agencies. |
Kosovo | Central Banking | $260,400 | The senior advisor will assist the Managing Director of the Central Banking Authority of Kosovo (CBAK) in (1) overseeing the central banking operations performed by the CBAK and the smooth functioning of the payment system; (2) developing regular economic and monetary analysis of the Kosovo economy, and improving related statistical reporting; (3) setting up appropriate internal proceedings, namely regarding general administration, human resources, and internal control; (4) acting as liaison with the relevant authorities having competencies in financial matters; and (5) participating as necessary in drawing up regulations covering fields under the competencies of the CBAK. |
Moldova | Tax Administration | $119,600 | Short-term experts will assist the State Tax Inspectorate (STI) in developing a comprehensive information technology (IT) Strategic Plan. This will be in the context of broader tax administration reforms in accordance with past and current Fund recommendations. The experts will address the significant business process reengineering challenges that lay ahead, and their visits will be timed to coincide with major milestone activities, such as (1) defining the current IT state; and (2) articulating and confirming a future IT state, with a gap analysis. The technical assistance provision is built on the expectation that the STI will adopt a policy to acquire rather than build software. |
Montenegro | Cash and Debt Management | $65,800 | Two short-term visits to focus on issues related to the reorganization of the Debt and Cash Management Department (DCMD) of Montenegro. This would be followed by activities designed to improve capacity in the front, middle, and back offices of the DCMD. |
Turkey | Revenue Administration | $185,500 | Five short-term expert visits will assist the authorities in (1) expanding the 2008 strategic management processes by strengthening functional office capacities for business plan development, oversight of tax directorate performance, and linkage of day-to-day activities to achievement of the strategic plan; and (2) establishing a pre-credibility system for value-added tax input credit claims (both cash and offsets) built around taxpayer risk. |
IMF—MULTIPLE REGIONS | |||
IMF—multiple regions | JSA Annual Report | $29,000 | Funding for the costs associated with the preparation and publication of the English and Japanese versions of the JSA Annual Report and posting it on the IMF public website. |
MIDDLE EAST AND CENTRAL ASIA REGION | |||
Middle East Technical Assistance Center (METAC) | Revenue Administration | $296,400 | The METAC resident advisor will focus on (1) designing revenue administration reform strategies for METAC countries, (2) following up and directly supporting the implementation of reforms and capacity building, (3) organizing short-term expert visits and backstopping the experts’ work, and (5) organizing workshops to disseminate best practices. |
Middle East and Central Asia—multiple countries | Real Sector Statistics | $320,804 | An extension of a long-term advisor in three countries in Central Asia—Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. The project will concentrate on improving macroeconomic statistics compiled by the statistical agencies in the three countries and build statistical capacity within the framework of the IMF General Data Dissemination System. A significant element of this project involves improving compilation procedures for Uzbekistan’s Consumer Price Index. |
Middle East and Central Asia—multiple countries | Public Financial Management | $292,700 | A regional public financial management advisor to selected central Asia countries will provide assistance in (1) implementing Uzbekistan’s Public Financial Management Reform Strategy 2007-18, (2) developing the treasury component of Tajikistan’s public financial management modernization project, (3) modernizing budget classification in Armenia, and (4) moving to accrual accounting in Azerbaijan. The regional expert is to be based in Uzbekistan. |
Middle East and Central Asia—multiple countries | National Accounts Statistics | $300,804 | An extension of a long-term expert based in the Syrian Arab Republic. The project aims to help the statistical agencies in Syria and Lebanon improve their national accounts statistics in line with the IMF General Data Dissemination System. In Syria, the expert’s work is intended to strengthen the collection of source data for the compilation of national accounts, while in Lebanon the work program will focus on the compilation and dissemination of annual GDP estimates. |
Afghanistan, Islamic Republic of | Monetary and Finance Statistics | $59,800 | Two short-term expert visits to assist the Central Bank of Afghanistan in strengthening its capacity to collect and compile monetary and financial statistics in accordance with the methodologies set out in the IMF Monetary and Financial Statistics Manual. |
Afghanistan, Islamic Republic of | Financial Supervision and Regulation | $93,750 | Course on Macroeconomic Management and Fiscal Policy for officials of the Ministry of Finance, Da Afghanistan Bank, and other government ministries involved in economic and financial issues. The course aims at deepening participants’ knowledge of the design and implementation of macroeconomic and fiscal policies, including such issues as fiscal adjustment, fiscal vulnerability, tax administration and reform, public expenditure management, debt management, civil service reform, and privatization. |
Algeria | Banking Supervision | $93,171 | Three short-term expert visits to assist the Banking Commission in building capacity to enforce prudential regulations, in light of the 2007 update to the Financial Sector Assessment Program for Algeria. Assistance will aim to improve the decision-making capacity at the Banking Commission, enhance Supervisory Capacity, strengthen macro-prudential analysis and stress testing, and develop procedures for off-site supervision. |
Algeria | Modernization of Revenue Administration | $59,800 | Two short-term expert visits to develop the tax administration’s capacity to analyze the revenue cost of tax exemptions and implement a tax expenditures analysis. |
Djibouti | Public Financial Management | $59,800 | Two short-term experts assisted the Djiboutian authorities in their reform program to attain fiscal stability. Technical assistance focused on budget classification, which included an appropriate codification system to allow users to identify and monitor public expenditure, including poverty-reducing spending. The experts also assisted with drafting and implementing necessary changes to the existing regulations, procedures, and instructions to help ensure that the new classification system is used in budget preparation and execution. |
Djibouti | Revenue Administration | $59,800 | With Djibouti’s introduction of a value-added tax (VAT) in January 2009, two one-month peripatetic expert visits in FY2009 further assisted the authorities in (1) developing the VAT communication campaign, (2) designing VAT procedures, (3) strengthening the large-taxpayer office, and (4) fine tuning VAT operations. |
Djibouti | Public Financial Management | $62,114 | Two short-term expert visits to assist in (1) designing and implementing new budget and accounting classifications; and (2) developing a medium-term budget framework to be introduced in the annual budget process starting from FY2010. |
Djibouti | Financial Supervision and Regulation | $93,171 | A series of missions totaling 12 weeks between May 2009 and April 2010, aimed at strengthening Djibouti’s Central Bank oversight committee, against the backdrop of entry of several foreign banks under the ongoing financial sector liberalization program. |
Kyrgyz Republic | Banking Supervision and Early Warning System | $93,171 | Three short-term expert missions aimed at strengthening the National Bank of Kyrgyz’s supervisory framework. The experts will further develop the bank’s stress testing and early warning capabilities. An expected outcome of this assistance is that the bank will be empowered to implement remedial action against problem banks. |
Mauritania | Revenue Administrati | on $59,800 | Two one-month expert visits to help the customs administration in Nouakchott strengthen its capacity in the ongoing modernization process through (1) establishing an effective full-time project team and strengthening senior management oversight; and (2) developing a comprehensive and costed modernization plan for 2008-09 that integrates the information technology (IT) reform initiatives, the new pre-shipment inspection and the legislative changes, and is consistent with a longer-term organizational strategy for customs. |
West Bank and Gaza | Foreign Reserves Management | $62,114 | Two short-term expert visits form a component of a wide-ranging program to institute a wholesale transformation of the Palestinian Monetary Authority into a fully fledged Central Bank. Specifically, these missions will focus on the reorganization of the Reserve Management function consistent with IMF guidelines. This will involve the development of an appropriate structure, investment policy, and a strategy to address infrastructure requirements. |
WESTERN HEMISPHERE REGION | |||
Western Hemisphere—Multiple Countries | Revenue Administration | $62,114 | Two one-month expert visits to assist in improving the quality of audit in both countries. This includes (1) the use of risk management tools to address compliance problems, specifically the assessment of the current audit strategy and procedures; and (2) a proposal for a comprehensive, modern audit policy including audit planning, risk assessment, and performance improvement. |
Western Hemisphere—Central America | Harmonization of Monetary and Financial Statistics | $30,000 | A seminar in Costa Rica with participation from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and the Dominican Republic focused on assessing results achieved from cross-country comparison and regional analysis under the Project on Harmonization of Monetary and Financial Statistics and establishing a work program. |
Western Hemisphere—Central America | Harmonization of Government Finance Statistics | $89,700 | Three short-term expert visits will help the authorities harmonize the compilation and dissemination of government finance statistics across countries, using the Government Finance Statistics Manual 2001 framework, to permit comparative analysis of fiscal developments and facilitate the regional policy dialogue. |
Western Hemisphere—Latin America | Regional Standard National Accounts Seminar | $93,750 | Seminar on services statistics for national accounts, co-organized by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Participants were from 17 Latin American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The seminar is to impart conceptual and working knowledge of international best practices in compiling source data on services statistics and national accounts on services activities through presentations and discussions on country-specific issues. |
Central America Region | Statistical Harmonization | $30,000 | Seminar targeted at coordinators of the Government Finance Statistics (GFS) Initiative in Central American countries. The seminar is intended to facilitate coordination of the initiative implemented by the Central American Monetary Council. The GFS project is intended to assist the harmonization of real sector, monetary, and external statistics. |
Paraguay | Strengthening Public Investments | $93,171 | Three short-term peripatetic expert visits. The first visit will build on the recent technical assistance mission and provide a detailed analysis of the current system for investment planning and execution, including a prioritized list of key weaknesses in the system. The second visit will develop a set of options to address the identified weaknesses, including changes in procedures and regulations, decision-making, oversight and evaluation arrangements, as well as possible information system enhancements. The third visit will work with the authorities to develop a concrete, medium-term action plan for strengthening the public investment process in Paraguay. |
Paraguay | Revenue Administration | $89,700 | Three short-term peripatetic expert visits to continue support for the National Customs Directorate to maintain the customs reform momentum. The expert will also assist with coordinating donor assistance and strengthening the Directorate’s change-management structure. |
Trinidad and Tobago | Financial Sector Supervision | $260,400 | Extension of a long-term advisor to help the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago strengthen its capacity for financial supervision. The advisor will assist with, and provide training on, consolidated supervision and cross-border risk assessment, including upgrading the reporting framework. |
Uruguay | Anti-Money Laundering and Combating of Terrorism (AML/CFT) | $59,800 | Two short-term expert visits will help develop a framework for identifying and assessing the money laundering (ML) and terrorist financing (TF) risks facing Uruguay, its institutions, and its financial services industry. The risk assessment is a key component of Uruguay’s national AML/CFT strategy. With this assistance the authorities will conduct a system wide assessment of ML and FT threats and vulnerabilities. |
AFRICA REGION | |||
---|---|---|---|
Beneficiary | Subject Area | Committed | Description |
Africa—multiple countries | Public Financial Management | $327,304 | Continuation of the Regional Public Financial Management (PFM) Advisor based in Liberia to (1) help the post-conflict country Liberia rebuild a transparent and efficient PFM system; and (2) provide peripatetic assistance to The Gambia, Ghana, and Sierra Leone to carry out their ongoing PFM reforms. |
Africa—multiple countries | Sovereign Asset/ Liability Management | $260,400 | Assist the Bank of the Central African States (BEAC) in establishing a regional public debt market in the Economic Community of Central African States, comprising Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon. Assistance includes providing training and guidance and developing technical and strategic options for the BEAC’s internal unit responsible for managing securities. |
Africa—multiple countries | Monetary and Financial Statistics | $70,000 | A two-week seminar on monetary and financial statistics for Lusophone African countries (Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and Sao Tome and Principe) and Timor-Leste. The seminar was targeted at midlevel officials employed to compile monetary statistics; it was a follow-up on training provided in 2007. The seminar was held at the Bank of Portugal in Lisbon. |
Africa—multiple countries | Macroeconomic Management and Debt | $93,750 | Two-week course on Macroeconomic Management and Debt Issues in French at the Joint African Institute in Tunis. The course covered both the conceptual issues and the practical applications on the links between macroeconomics and debt policies, underlining the need for ensuring sustainable debt. |
Africa—multiple countries | Balance of Payment External Sector Statistics | $70,000 | To conduct a one-week outreach seminar for senior balance of payments compilers to explain the changes introduced in new Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM6). The course provides participants the opportunity to comment on any issues related to the implementation of the new methodology prior to the finalization and publication of BPM6 at end-2008. The seminar will take place in Accra, Ghana and was offered to twenty Anglophone African countries (Botswana, Eritrea, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia) and three representatives from the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management. |
Africa—multiple countries | Real Sector Statistics | $294,400 | A continuation of a regional advisor based at the West Africa Regional Technical Assistance Center (covering Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’lvoire, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Togo) to help countries carry out their plans to improve the quality of real sector statistics as described in their General Data Dissemination System metadata. The project helps national statistical agencies develop self-sustaining systems for collecting required data and compiling and disseminating national accounts and price statistics, consistent with internationally accepted methodologies and practices. |
Africa—multiple countries | Data Dissemination Standards | $79,900 | A two-day technical assistance workshop (held in Dakar, Senegal) to provide General Data Dissemination System (GDDS) coordinators from 20 Francophone and Lusophone African countries with knowledge about the realignment of data categories and the shift in emphasis to develop and disseminate National Summary Data Pages and Advance Release Calendars. The workshop focused on a subset of all the GDDS coordinators to provide a regional focus. |
Africa—multiple countries | National Accounts | $325,804 | Extension of a regional advisor in national accounts statistics (RSA) to Botswana, Mauritius and Namibia, which is a multiyear project. The RSA is stationed at the Central Statistics Office of Botswana and delivers TA to the other two countries through peripatetic missions. An important emphasis in the RSA’s work is providing on-the-job training to staff engaged in the compilation of national accounts statistics. |
Africa—multiple countries | Monetary Statistics | $93,750 | A seminar co-organized by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the IMF on monetary and financial statistics will be held in Durban, South Africa. The seminar will be targeted to managers of monetary statistical programs in the SADC area (14 SADC member countries, excluding Zimbabwe), compilers of monetary statistics and officials of the SADC Secretariat dealing with statistical development in the region. The seminar is designed to further promote work in monetary and financial statistics by providing technical assistance that emphasizes the harmonization of compilation in the SADC region. This will both enhance statistical capacity in the individual countries and contribute to the compilation of regional statistics. Over the medium term, this is expected to support the development of the SADC monetary union. |
Africa—multiple countries | Macroeconomic Management and Financial Sector (MMF) Issues | $50,000 | A two-week MMF course, jointly offered with West AFRITAC and delivered by the IMF Institute, for Francophone African country officials to examine the policy choices confronting authorities in developing and emerging market economies and the options available to policymakers, with special attention to how financial sector issues interact with macroeconomic management in sub-Saharan Africa. |
Africa—multiple countries | External Vulnerabilitie: | $93,750 | Jointly hosted by the IMF Institute and the Bank of the Central African States in Douala, Cameroon, the two-week course aimed to broaden participants’ understanding of external sector vulnerabilities. The course provided the participants with a comprehensive set of analytical tools for assessing these vulnerabilities and appropriate policy responses. |
Africa—multiple countries | Financial Programming and Policies (FPP) | $93,750 | The FPP course to be held in Dakar, Senegal, in cooperation with the Banque Centrale des États de 1’Afrique de 1’Ouest, to train participants in how to design an appropriate set of policy measures in the context of a comprehensive macroeconomic adjustment program. |
Africa—multiple countries | Financial Programming and Policies (FPP) | $93,750 | The two-week training course, to be held in Ghana in August 2008, aimed at strengthening understanding of the design and implementation of macroeconomic and financial policies among the five West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management member countries (The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone). Specific policies were presented in a comprehensive macroeconomic framework, emphasizing the complementarity of stabilization policies and structural reforms and the importance of policy coordination for sustained growth. |
Africa—multiple countries | Financial Programming and Policies (FPP) | $93,750 | The FPP course is aimed at midlevel officials of the five West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management member countries. Held in Abuja, Nigeria, in July 2009, the course trained participants involved with economic or financial analysis in ministries of finance, economy, or planning; central banks; or similar institutions on how to design an appropriate set of policy measures in the context of a comprehensive macroeconomic adjustment program. |
Africa—multiple countries | Fiscal Law and Policy | $59,800 | Short-term expert visits to strengthen the tax regimes in selected African countries, including the three Lusophone countries (Cape Verde, Mozambique and São Tome and Principe), Burundi, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Uganda. The projects primarily involve the preparation of draft legislation focused on (1) refashioning tax procedures and individual income and corporate tax regulations; (2) streamlining tax incentives; and (3) introducing or amending the value-added tax code. In Uganda, given its discovery of commercially viable oil and gas reserves, the legal drafting projects are related to the taxation of oil and gas. |
Africa—multiple countries | Financial Programming and Policies Course | $70,000 | Two-week course on financial programming and policies, to be held in Uganda for the Macroeconomic and Financial Management Institute of Eastern and Southern Africa for participant countries (Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe). The course program will follow the standard financial programming and policies format and include a mixture of lectures and workshops on accounts, analysis, and forecasting in the four macroeconomic sectors (real, external, fiscal, and monetary), as well as a financial programming exercise. |
Burkina Faso | Public Financial Management (PFM) | $62,114 | Assist Burkina Faso, a member country of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), through two peripatetic expert missions to Ouagadougou. WAEMU has revised PFM directives for its member countries to introduce modern concepts; therefore, the missions focused on finalizing Burkina Faso’s medium-term PFM strategy and implementing an action plan for the introduction of program-based budgeting. The missions were a follow-up to a 2007 mission. |
Burundi | Revenue Administration | $62,114 | Burundi’s customs department and tax administration needed strengthening with its accession to the East African Community (EAC), its introduction of a value-added tax and its adoption of the EAC common external tariff during the second half of 2009. Two short-term experts were fielded to help the authorities implement required changes. |
Burundi | Central Bank Operations | $285,804 | Extension of a long-term resident advisor to assist the Central Bank of Burundi to put in place a modernization strategy with a focus on improved liquidity management and monetary operations; a new data management system; and strengthened management capabilities, organizational structure, and work practices. |
Cameroon | Public Financial Management | $59,800 | Assistance to be provided on a pilot basis to two selected ministries in Cameroon in implementing the first phase of performance budgeting through (1) structuring the budget by programs, (2) modernizing budget execution, (3) developing accounting and control rules, (4) clarifying the responsibility structure of budget managers, and (5) improving transparency. |
Cote d’lvoire | Revenue Administration | $59,800 | Two short-term experts to help modernize revenue administration to increase revenue mobilization through (1) strengthening compliance and enforcement functions; (2) further rationalizing procedures, including procedures for import valuation, and duty exemption and transit monitoring; and (3) improving technical skills, human resource management and internal audit. |
Gabon | Revenue Administration | $59,800 | Two short-term expert visits to help Gabon modernize its tax and customs administration, aimed at helping Gabon’s transition from oil revenue dependency to a diversified economy. |
Liberia | Central Bank Operations | $285,804 | Long-term advisor to help the Central Bank of Liberia develop a modern national payment system, consistent with international standards. This is needed to meet the growing needs of the country as strong economic and concomitant financial activities emerge after the post-conflict period. |
Liberia | Public Financial Management (PFM) | $89,700 | Three expert visits to help prepare PFM reforms (a prerequisite for Liberia meeting the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative completion point), focused on the legal framework, namely, (1) regulations, (2) instructions, (3) operating guidelines, and (4) civil service training with the new PFM requirements. |
Madagascar | Central Banking | $119,600 | Four short-term expert visits to assist the Banque Centrale de Madagascar (BCM) in the context of a three-year audit plan until 2010 in building capacity in internal audit. The visits focused on the application of risk management-based auditing with a view to aligning the BCM audit function with best international practices. |
Madagascar | Public Financial Management | $31,057 | Two-week follow-up mission aimed at analyzing the progress made since the JSA-financed peripatetic missions in 2007; to consolidate the reforms in cash management, the mission is further to assist the Malagasy authorities in establishing a sound system of commitment planning and train the relevant line ministries’ staff. |
Madagascar | Revenue Administration | $119,600 | A customs administration expert and a tax administration expert to help the customs and tax departments implement critical initiatives of the reform programs by (1) implementing a customs management information system and improving customs procedures; (2) improving tax operations for medium-sized businesses; and (3) strengthening the management of the overall tax administration reform program. |
Madagascar | Monetary and Exchange Regimes | $124,228 | Four short-term expert visits to help the Banque Centrale de Madagascar (1) build capacity for monetary policy research and analysis, the results of which are expected to guide monetary policy; (2) enhance monetary policy formulation and implementation and thus strengthen macroeconomic management; and (3) increase staff skills through hands-on training in monetary analysis. |
Mali | Revenue Administration | $59,800 | Two short-term experts to help tax officials (1) establish a medium-sized taxpayer office in Bamako to address serious noncompliance issues from this segment of the taxpayer population, (2) simplify the tax system, (3) improve the organization and management of tax offices, and (4) develop compliance programs for all taxpayers. |
Mali | Public Financial Management (PFM) | $124,228 | Four short-term missions on program budgeting to advise the Malian authorities on making program budgeting fully operational over the medium to long term to further strengthen PFM. The mission recommended that Mali (1) adapt the legal and regulatory framework in line with the new West African Economic and Monetary Union directives being finalized; (2) increase consistency between line ministries’ sectoral plans and the overall budget and medium-term budgetary framework process; (3) redefine the roles and responsibilities of the various actors involved in program budgeting; (4) further improve implementation of program budgeting concepts; (5) strengthen PFM, in particular, accounting, reporting, cash management, and information systems; and (6) undertake training activities to gradually overcome capacity constraints. |
Niger | Public Financial Management | $186,342 | A six-month short-term mission to Niamey to help strengthen top-down budgeting and put in place a resident advisor for developing a medium-term budget framework (MTBF) linked to sectoral objectives and the medium-term expenditure frameworks, as outlined in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. The mission laid out a strategy for putting the MTBF at the macro level (total revenues, expenditure and financing, consistent with fiscal sustainability). |
São Tome and Principe | Banking Supervision | $62,114 | Two short-term peripatetic missions to help implement a treasury single account and to define a strategy to implement a capital investment unit in the Ministry of Finance in São Tome. |
Uganda | Revenue Administration | $59,800 | Short-term experts to help the authorities modernize domestic tax administration. The focal areas included (1) advising the alignment of the integrated tax administration system with best tax administration practices; (2) assisting in establishing a medium-taxpayer office and related compliance strategies; (3) developing plans to administer the small taxpayer segment; (4) providing advice on strengthening national audit planning and quality of taxpayer audits; and (5) reviewing the draft tax procedure code and aligning it with new systems and procedures. |
Uganda | Revenue Administration | $93,171 | Three one-month expert visits geared towards (1) providing guidance on effective medium-sized taxpayer management; (2) reviewing the draft tax procedure code and aligning it with new systems and procedures, particularly for oil and other natural resources taxation; and (3) strengthening audit management and quality of domestic taxpayer and import trade audits. |
Zambia | Revenue Administration | $59,800 | Peripatetic visits to help the authorities modernize the tax administration. The areas included (1) improving tax operations based on self-assessment systems and introducing risk-management approaches; (2) establishing a strong domestic tax headquarters function; (3) implementing an effective large-taxpayer office; (4) developing medium-sized-and small-taxpayer segment management systems; and (5) assisting in developing a reform and modernization program for the governance structure. |
ASIA AND PACIFIC REGION | |||
Asia and Pacific—multiple countries | Macroeconomic Management and Structural Adjustment | $500,000 | Continued funding for the training and travel of all Asian participants at the Joint Vienna Institute. Most of these participants come from countries implementing economic programs to redress macroeconomic imbalances or carrying out structural reforms aimed at improving macroeconomic management and promoting transformation to market economies. |
Asia and Pacific—multiple countries | Macroeconomic and Financial Management | $260,400 | Continuation for one JSA-financed long-term expert assigned to the IMF-Singapore Regional Training Institute to conduct courses and workshops in macroeconomic and financial management (including financial programming, monetary and exchange rate policy, and public finance) for mid- to high-level officials from the Asia and Pacific region. |
Asia and Pacific—multiple countries | Macroeconomic and Financial Management | $260,400 | Continuation for one JSA-financed long-term expert assigned to the IMF-Singapore Regional Training Institute to conduct courses and seminars in various aspects of macroeconomic and financial management (including financial programming, monetary and exchange rate policy, and public finance) and other topical areas of current interest to countries in the Asia and Pacific region. |
Asia and Pacific—multiple countries | Tax Policy | $59,800 | The short-term experts will strengthen tax regimes in Bangladesh and Fiji. The project will primarily involve preparing draft legislation and any amendments called for by the authorities, together with explanatory memoranda to ensure that the legislation is well understood. |
Asia and Pacific—multiple countries | Tax Policy | $163,000 | Two-and-a-half day seminar to be held in Tokyo for 34 Asian and Oceanic countries with the cooperation of the IMF’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. The seminar’s main theme is how tax incentives could be used from an optimal tax policy perspective for facilitating sustainable long-term growth following the current financial crisis. The seminar is targeted at high-level officials in tax policy departments of the participating countries. |
Asia and Pacific—multiple countries | Financial Programming and Policies | $250,000 | The IMF-Singapore Regional Training Institute to conduct a total of eight courses for 85 mid- to high-level officials of the Asia-Pacific countries in FY2009. Courses are to cover 150 participant-weeks and include various aspects of macroeconomic and financial management (financial programming, monetary and exchange rate policy, balance of payments, and public finance). |
Asia and Pacific—multiple countries | Real Sector Statistics | $279,513 | This project will finance a series of peripatetic expert missions in Bangladesh and Nepal. In Bangladesh, the expert will focus on improving the quality of annual national accounts estimates, facilitated by a series of new surveys, and improved procedures for using the resulting data. In Nepal, the expert will help produce quarterly GDP data, based on current price and volume data. |
Asia and Pacific—multiple countries | Field Visit to JSA-Supported Projects | $25,000 | Funds were allocated under this project for the costs associated with the JSA Joint Japan-IMF field visit to countries supported by the JSA (see Annex 2). In FY2009 the field visit focused on projects in Cambodia and the IMF-Singapore Regional Training Institute. |
Bangladesh | Central Banking | $89,700 | Three one-month peripatetic expert visits to help the Bangladesh Bank (BB) develop its capacity to implement essential accounting reforms under the International Financial Reporting Standards in (1) upgrading staff skills in the BB’s financial management, reporting processes, and systems; and (2) strengthening the accounting information systems used at the BB. |
Bangladesh | Macro Fiscal Advisor | $119,600 | A perίpatetίc advisor to support developing a new macro-fiscal policy unit by (1) defining its functions and internal structure, as well as its work agenda and outputs; (2) building capacity in macro-fiscal projection techniques, policy development, and monitoring through training of staff and development of work manuals; and (3) helping define the coordination between the new unit and related institutions, as well as the integration of the unit’s outputs in the overall budget process. |
Bangladesh | Bond Market Development | $89,700 | Short-term technical assistance expert to help the authorities promote the development of an active primary and secondary market in government securities to (1) encourage competition, (2) serve as the foundation for the broader development of financial markets in Bangladesh, and (3) further enhance the capacity of the Central Bank to monitor financial market stability and the effectiveness of monetary policy transmission. |
Cambodia | Public Financial Management | $59,800 | Two short-term peripatetic visits to consolidate and extend the existing budget classification system to help the Cambodian authorities in recording government investment in the accounts and accurately recording advances in cash that are made by the National Treasury. |
Cambodia | Public Financial Management | $217,399 | Seven short-term visits until June 2010 to assist the Cambodian government with (1) cash management and short-term cash flow forecasting through the newly established Cash Management Unit; (2) ensuring the operation of a commercial bank pilot project, in which commercial banks could provide government banking services; and (3) establishing a Treasury Single Account through the closing of government bank accounts outside the National Treasury’s control. |
Cambodia | Banking Supervision | $59,800 | Short-term expert to assist the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) in strengthening on-site supervision of banks through on-the-job training for a team of NBC bank examiners. In addition to working with the team through all aspects of an on-site examination, the expert will review and make recommendations for improving supervision manuals and guidance notes. |
Cambodia | Revenue Administration | $179,400 | Short-term experts for 18 weeks to continue helping the Customs and Excise Department implement its reform and modernization plan, including (1) updating regulations and instructions consistent with the proposed new customs law, (2) preparing the installation of the new Asycuda computerized customs clearance system, and (3) developing and introducing procedures and guidelines for the new automated operational environment. |
Cambodia | Banking Supervision | $260,400 | Extension of long-term resident advisor at the National Bank of Cambodia to provide day-today advice and assistance for strengthening NBC’s institutional capacity, with a continuing focus on enhancing off-site surveillance of banks, strengthening the regulatory frame work, and enforcing prudential regulations. |
China | Macroeconomic Management and Financial Sector Issues Course | $29,900 | The expert will assist two IMF Institute staff in delivering a macroeconomic management and financial sector issues course in Dalian, for officials from the People’s Bank of China and data compilers of major commercial banks. The course will focus on IMF methodology (as recommended in its Monetary and Financial Statistics Manual) for collecting, compiling, and reporting monetary data to be used in macroeconomic analysis. |
China | Revenue Administration | $179,400 | Short-term experts will conduct six peripatetic visits to support (1) developing a medium- to long-term strategic plan for taxpayer services; and (2) providing advice and assistance in critical areas (e.g., project governance, enterprise architectural design, and project management) during the development and implementation of the Golden Tax Project. This project is expected to provide increased functionality; for example, to incorporate business processing improvements (particularly those piloted in the Jiangsu Province), integrate the functionality of several smaller stand-alone systems, and, for the first time, provide support to the local tax bureau. |
Indonesia | Banking Supervision | $260,400 | Extension of long-term bank supervision expert to advise Bank Indonesia (BI) in various areas of banking regulation and supervision with a focus on (1) risk-based supervision; (2) Basel II issues; (3) alignment of supervision with the Basel Core Principles; and (4) further development of stress testing at BI. |
Lao People’s Democratic Republic | Revenue Administration | $101,700 | Extension of short-term expert to help the Customs Department complete preparation of the department’s policy and procedures manual, and finalize instructions to fully implement the World Trade Organization customs valuation agreement. |
Maldives | Develop Maldives Monetary Authority Research Capacity | $119,600 | Short-term experts to augment Maldives Monetary Authorities (MMA) research capacity and activities to contribute to economic policymaking and discussions, to effectively carry out monetary policy formulation and implementation, and to assert the MMA’s autonomy. |
Maldives | Public Financial Management (PFM) | $59,800 | Extension of a strategic advisor to the Financial Controller and Minister of Finance up to the first quarter of 2010, to (1) provide quality assurance, (2) assist in redesigning the payment process, and (3) provide guidance on the functionality of appropriate PFM components (the cash management infrastructure and budget reporting formats) in the implementation of Maldives’ new government integrated financial management information system (GIFMIS). The GIFM1S would significantly benefit the central government in fiscal reporting and management. |
Mongolia | Public Financial Management | $94,200 | Three one-month expert visits to assist Mongolia’s Ministry of Finance (MoF) for (1) strengthening budget preparation processes through the integration of the capital budgeting process by enhancing capacities in the MoF and line ministries, and (2) supporting the roll-out of second-generation budget preparation reforms (program budgeting and medium-term budget). |
Mongolia | Capital Market Development | $209,300 | Two experts to provide peripatetic support over twelve months to facilitate capacity building in the Financial Regulatory Commission (FRC) in Mongolia through (1) training FRC staff to supervise the Savings and Credit Cooperatives, insurance companies, capital markets, and other non-banking financial institutions; (2) reviewing the FRC’s funding model; (3) producing industry statistics; (4) introducing risk management and risk-based supervision for non-banking financial institutions; (5) developing capital market regulations; (6) strengthening market infrastructure; and (7) improving the legal environment. |
Mongolia | Public Financial Management | $305,804 | One-year Budget Planning Advisor to be placed in Mongolia’s Ministry of Finance (MoF) to support (1) implementing second-generation budget preparation reforms, including program budgeting and medium-term expenditure frameworks/ forward estimates; (2) improving existing budget processes, including capital budgeting reforms and relations with the new National Development and Reform Agency; and (3) enhancing capacity in MoF and line ministries, through methodological development, manuals and instructions, training, and, where needed, restructuring existing capacities. This work is a build up on three months of peripatetic support provided earlier to the Mongolian authorities. |
Nepal | Public Financial Management | $302,084 | One long-term (10 months) and two short-term expert visits to support Nepal in the first phase of implementation of a Treasury Single Account (TSA) in the central administration. A TSA is a banking arrangement that enables daily consolidation of financial balances at the central bank to facilitate active treasury control over cash flows and stock. TSA will optimize the financial management of government resources while minimizing the cost of government financing. The expert will also translate documents and regulations from Nepalese to English. |
Nepal | Revenue Administration | $209,300 | Seven short-term technical assistance missions will help strengthen the revenue administration with a focus on large taxpayers and customs operations, including its audit capacity. The objective is to develop and implement a comprehensive customs reform strategy and to adequately use the Asycuda computer system and network by implementing operational procedures based on best international practices. |
Papua New Guinea | Central Banking | $155,285 | Eighteen weeks of short-term expert visits to assist the Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG) with (1) improving its reserve management, through the acquisition and installation of software for the management of investment portfolios and risks, and through enhancing the BPNG’s monitoring of the performance of both internally managed funds and funds placed with external managers; and (2) strengthening BPNG’s financial accounting, by upgrading financial management and reporting systems and related internal controls to ensure financial statements are in full compliance with international standards. |
Pacific Financial and Technical Assistance Center (PFTAC) | Revenue Policy and Administration | $310,400 | A PFTAC long-term advisor’s contract was extended to continue helping to implement short- and medium-term programs to reform tax and customs policy and administration, based largely on prior PFTAC technical assistance. The expert will provide diagnostic missions, hands-on TA follow-up missions, and manage and backstop short-term expert assignments of tax and customs experts. Training, seminars, and organization of attachments of Pacific Island country officials to other countries will continue. The advisor will continue to develop PFTAC’s efforts to coordinate with donors and other TA providers, to help ensure uniformity and consistency of approach across the region. |
Pacific Financial and Technical Assistance Center (PFTAC) | Multisector Statistics Advisor | $305,400 | A PFTAC long-term advisor’s contract was extended to continue providing advice and assistance to PFTAC member countries in a broad range of economic and financial statistics, including national accounts, price, employment and salaries, government finance, balance of payments, and monetary and financial statistics, as well as management, infrastructure, and priority setting. The advisor will provide this assistance through various modalities, including advisory visits, training courses and seminars, and facilitating the secondment of officials from the statistical agencies of one PFTAC member country to that of another. The advisor will act as liaison with other regional technical assistance providers. In addition to the delivery of hands-on technical expertise, the PFTAC advisor will continue to use the General Data Dissemination System as the framework for developing projects in the statistics area. |
Philippines | Strengthening Bank Supervision | $260,400 | The long-term advisor will build on achievements to date and drive further improvement in the overall condition of the banking sector by supporting the sustained implementation and ongoing development of the bank supervision program, while continuing to provide day-to-day advice and assistance to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in the development of a central point of contact function, and in facilitating the reorganization of the Supervision and Examination Sector. |
Philippines | Financial Supervision and Regulation | $89,700 | Three short-term missions assisted the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in strengthening its examination and surveillance framework through (1) the assessment of the likely level of compliance with Basel Core Principles; and (2) the assessment and rewriting of the regulations covering credit-risk management and the granting of credit. |
Philippines | Financial Supervision and Regulation | $186,342 | Two peripatetic experts (each for 12 weeks) focused on increasing the internal processing efficiency of banking supervision activities at Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Specifically, the mission strengthened the quality of surveillance by focusing critical human resources on higher-priority matters by supporting an enhanced, standardized training by which new bank examiners are instructed in risk-focused methodologies. |
Thailand | Financial Supervision and Regulation | $62,114 | One short-term expert (in January 2009) to help the Bank of Thailand (BOT) implement Basel II. Under BOT’s banking supervision reform, the expert focused on meeting two key challenges for successfully implementing Basel II: (1) strengthening capacity to assess market risk, and (2) implementing Pillar 2 of Basel II. |
Vietnam | Financial Supervision and Regulation | $260,400 | Long-term resident banking supervisor expert to help the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) in its ongoing effort to strengthen banking regulation and supervision. The expert will focus on (1) upgrading the SBV’s capacity to supervise and regulate banks; (2) providing guidance to SBV staff in implementing major institutional and regulatory reforms to banking supervision; (3) identifying appropriate external training courses to upgrade SBV staff capacity to supervise banks; and (4) helping coordinate donor assistance in the area of banking supervision, with the aim of ensuring consistency and prioritization of reform efforts by donors in this area. |
EUROPEAN REGION | |||
Europe—multiple countries | Regional Workshop on Contingency Planning and War Games | $50,000 | The regional workshop on contingency planning and war games to be held in Vienna was to (1) discuss the key elements of a comprehensive contingency planning framework for financial market crises, (2) elaborate on the conceptual and practical difficulties in establishing and implementing such frameworks, (3) discuss how to organize and carry out “crisis simulations or war games” in a regional context, and (4) create a platform for national supervisory and monetary authorities and experts to exchange views and share experiences. Participants from emerging European countries (Belarus, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Turkey, and Ukraine), and representatives from more developed European countries (Austria, Spain, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, United Kingdom, Greece, and Slovenia) provided perspectives from their experience in this area. |
Europe—southeast Europe | Public Financial Management (PFM) | $203,100 | Long-term PFM advisor posted at the Center of Excellence in Finance to selected member countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia). The advisor focused on (1) ensuring fiscal control and financial discipline, and (2) promoting efficient resource allocation and cost-effective service delivery. |
Albania | Tax Administration | $75,274 | Short-term expert visits to help the General Directorate for Taxation design an information technology (IT) strategy that outlines the requirements for a new IT system and identifies required changes to tax administration business processes. |
Belarus | Medium-Term Budgeting | $65,800 | Two expert visits to Minsk to focus on medium-term budgeting (MTB) to help transition the Belarusian authorities from their Soviet-style budget planning system. Belarus’ exposure with international good practice in MTB has been limited, and the visits will help develop an appropriate model of MTB that will focus on (1) definitions of key concepts, (2) specification of the MTB model, (3) specification of the procedure for the development of the MTB and the manner of its approval, (4) allocation of responsibilities between ministries, and (5) roles and responsibilities of budget managers in the spending ministries. |
Kosovo and Montenegro | National Accounts and Price Statistics | $310,400 | The regional advisor is to concentrate on improving the national accounts statistics compiled by the statistical agencies and in building statistical capacity within the framework of General Data Dissemination System. The advisor is to follow up on the implementation of the project framework summary and review the existing work programs with the authorities. He or she will also assist in establishing an agreed timetable for their implementation and will provide training to the staff in the form of seminars as well as on-the-job training. The advisor is to work with the authorities to further increase cooperation and coordination in statistics among government agencies. |
Kosovo | Central Banking | $260,400 | The senior advisor will assist the Managing Director of the Central Banking Authority of Kosovo (CBAK) in (1) overseeing the central banking operations performed by the CBAK and the smooth functioning of the payment system; (2) developing regular economic and monetary analysis of the Kosovo economy, and improving related statistical reporting; (3) setting up appropriate internal proceedings, namely regarding general administration, human resources, and internal control; (4) acting as liaison with the relevant authorities having competencies in financial matters; and (5) participating as necessary in drawing up regulations covering fields under the competencies of the CBAK. |
Moldova | Tax Administration | $119,600 | Short-term experts will assist the State Tax Inspectorate (STI) in developing a comprehensive information technology (IT) Strategic Plan. This will be in the context of broader tax administration reforms in accordance with past and current Fund recommendations. The experts will address the significant business process reengineering challenges that lay ahead, and their visits will be timed to coincide with major milestone activities, such as (1) defining the current IT state; and (2) articulating and confirming a future IT state, with a gap analysis. The technical assistance provision is built on the expectation that the STI will adopt a policy to acquire rather than build software. |
Montenegro | Cash and Debt Management | $65,800 | Two short-term visits to focus on issues related to the reorganization of the Debt and Cash Management Department (DCMD) of Montenegro. This would be followed by activities designed to improve capacity in the front, middle, and back offices of the DCMD. |
Turkey | Revenue Administration | $185,500 | Five short-term expert visits will assist the authorities in (1) expanding the 2008 strategic management processes by strengthening functional office capacities for business plan development, oversight of tax directorate performance, and linkage of day-to-day activities to achievement of the strategic plan; and (2) establishing a pre-credibility system for value-added tax input credit claims (both cash and offsets) built around taxpayer risk. |
IMF—MULTIPLE REGIONS | |||
IMF—multiple regions | JSA Annual Report | $29,000 | Funding for the costs associated with the preparation and publication of the English and Japanese versions of the JSA Annual Report and posting it on the IMF public website. |
MIDDLE EAST AND CENTRAL ASIA REGION | |||
Middle East Technical Assistance Center (METAC) | Revenue Administration | $296,400 | The METAC resident advisor will focus on (1) designing revenue administration reform strategies for METAC countries, (2) following up and directly supporting the implementation of reforms and capacity building, (3) organizing short-term expert visits and backstopping the experts’ work, and (5) organizing workshops to disseminate best practices. |
Middle East and Central Asia—multiple countries | Real Sector Statistics | $320,804 | An extension of a long-term advisor in three countries in Central Asia—Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. The project will concentrate on improving macroeconomic statistics compiled by the statistical agencies in the three countries and build statistical capacity within the framework of the IMF General Data Dissemination System. A significant element of this project involves improving compilation procedures for Uzbekistan’s Consumer Price Index. |
Middle East and Central Asia—multiple countries | Public Financial Management | $292,700 | A regional public financial management advisor to selected central Asia countries will provide assistance in (1) implementing Uzbekistan’s Public Financial Management Reform Strategy 2007-18, (2) developing the treasury component of Tajikistan’s public financial management modernization project, (3) modernizing budget classification in Armenia, and (4) moving to accrual accounting in Azerbaijan. The regional expert is to be based in Uzbekistan. |
Middle East and Central Asia—multiple countries | National Accounts Statistics | $300,804 | An extension of a long-term expert based in the Syrian Arab Republic. The project aims to help the statistical agencies in Syria and Lebanon improve their national accounts statistics in line with the IMF General Data Dissemination System. In Syria, the expert’s work is intended to strengthen the collection of source data for the compilation of national accounts, while in Lebanon the work program will focus on the compilation and dissemination of annual GDP estimates. |
Afghanistan, Islamic Republic of | Monetary and Finance Statistics | $59,800 | Two short-term expert visits to assist the Central Bank of Afghanistan in strengthening its capacity to collect and compile monetary and financial statistics in accordance with the methodologies set out in the IMF Monetary and Financial Statistics Manual. |
Afghanistan, Islamic Republic of | Financial Supervision and Regulation | $93,750 | Course on Macroeconomic Management and Fiscal Policy for officials of the Ministry of Finance, Da Afghanistan Bank, and other government ministries involved in economic and financial issues. The course aims at deepening participants’ knowledge of the design and implementation of macroeconomic and fiscal policies, including such issues as fiscal adjustment, fiscal vulnerability, tax administration and reform, public expenditure management, debt management, civil service reform, and privatization. |
Algeria | Banking Supervision | $93,171 | Three short-term expert visits to assist the Banking Commission in building capacity to enforce prudential regulations, in light of the 2007 update to the Financial Sector Assessment Program for Algeria. Assistance will aim to improve the decision-making capacity at the Banking Commission, enhance Supervisory Capacity, strengthen macro-prudential analysis and stress testing, and develop procedures for off-site supervision. |
Algeria | Modernization of Revenue Administration | $59,800 | Two short-term expert visits to develop the tax administration’s capacity to analyze the revenue cost of tax exemptions and implement a tax expenditures analysis. |
Djibouti | Public Financial Management | $59,800 | Two short-term experts assisted the Djiboutian authorities in their reform program to attain fiscal stability. Technical assistance focused on budget classification, which included an appropriate codification system to allow users to identify and monitor public expenditure, including poverty-reducing spending. The experts also assisted with drafting and implementing necessary changes to the existing regulations, procedures, and instructions to help ensure that the new classification system is used in budget preparation and execution. |
Djibouti | Revenue Administration | $59,800 | With Djibouti’s introduction of a value-added tax (VAT) in January 2009, two one-month peripatetic expert visits in FY2009 further assisted the authorities in (1) developing the VAT communication campaign, (2) designing VAT procedures, (3) strengthening the large-taxpayer office, and (4) fine tuning VAT operations. |
Djibouti | Public Financial Management | $62,114 | Two short-term expert visits to assist in (1) designing and implementing new budget and accounting classifications; and (2) developing a medium-term budget framework to be introduced in the annual budget process starting from FY2010. |
Djibouti | Financial Supervision and Regulation | $93,171 | A series of missions totaling 12 weeks between May 2009 and April 2010, aimed at strengthening Djibouti’s Central Bank oversight committee, against the backdrop of entry of several foreign banks under the ongoing financial sector liberalization program. |
Kyrgyz Republic | Banking Supervision and Early Warning System | $93,171 | Three short-term expert missions aimed at strengthening the National Bank of Kyrgyz’s supervisory framework. The experts will further develop the bank’s stress testing and early warning capabilities. An expected outcome of this assistance is that the bank will be empowered to implement remedial action against problem banks. |
Mauritania | Revenue Administrati | on $59,800 | Two one-month expert visits to help the customs administration in Nouakchott strengthen its capacity in the ongoing modernization process through (1) establishing an effective full-time project team and strengthening senior management oversight; and (2) developing a comprehensive and costed modernization plan for 2008-09 that integrates the information technology (IT) reform initiatives, the new pre-shipment inspection and the legislative changes, and is consistent with a longer-term organizational strategy for customs. |
West Bank and Gaza | Foreign Reserves Management | $62,114 | Two short-term expert visits form a component of a wide-ranging program to institute a wholesale transformation of the Palestinian Monetary Authority into a fully fledged Central Bank. Specifically, these missions will focus on the reorganization of the Reserve Management function consistent with IMF guidelines. This will involve the development of an appropriate structure, investment policy, and a strategy to address infrastructure requirements. |
WESTERN HEMISPHERE REGION | |||
Western Hemisphere—Multiple Countries | Revenue Administration | $62,114 | Two one-month expert visits to assist in improving the quality of audit in both countries. This includes (1) the use of risk management tools to address compliance problems, specifically the assessment of the current audit strategy and procedures; and (2) a proposal for a comprehensive, modern audit policy including audit planning, risk assessment, and performance improvement. |
Western Hemisphere—Central America | Harmonization of Monetary and Financial Statistics | $30,000 | A seminar in Costa Rica with participation from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and the Dominican Republic focused on assessing results achieved from cross-country comparison and regional analysis under the Project on Harmonization of Monetary and Financial Statistics and establishing a work program. |
Western Hemisphere—Central America | Harmonization of Government Finance Statistics | $89,700 | Three short-term expert visits will help the authorities harmonize the compilation and dissemination of government finance statistics across countries, using the Government Finance Statistics Manual 2001 framework, to permit comparative analysis of fiscal developments and facilitate the regional policy dialogue. |
Western Hemisphere—Latin America | Regional Standard National Accounts Seminar | $93,750 | Seminar on services statistics for national accounts, co-organized by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Participants were from 17 Latin American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The seminar is to impart conceptual and working knowledge of international best practices in compiling source data on services statistics and national accounts on services activities through presentations and discussions on country-specific issues. |
Central America Region | Statistical Harmonization | $30,000 | Seminar targeted at coordinators of the Government Finance Statistics (GFS) Initiative in Central American countries. The seminar is intended to facilitate coordination of the initiative implemented by the Central American Monetary Council. The GFS project is intended to assist the harmonization of real sector, monetary, and external statistics. |
Paraguay | Strengthening Public Investments | $93,171 | Three short-term peripatetic expert visits. The first visit will build on the recent technical assistance mission and provide a detailed analysis of the current system for investment planning and execution, including a prioritized list of key weaknesses in the system. The second visit will develop a set of options to address the identified weaknesses, including changes in procedures and regulations, decision-making, oversight and evaluation arrangements, as well as possible information system enhancements. The third visit will work with the authorities to develop a concrete, medium-term action plan for strengthening the public investment process in Paraguay. |
Paraguay | Revenue Administration | $89,700 | Three short-term peripatetic expert visits to continue support for the National Customs Directorate to maintain the customs reform momentum. The expert will also assist with coordinating donor assistance and strengthening the Directorate’s change-management structure. |
Trinidad and Tobago | Financial Sector Supervision | $260,400 | Extension of a long-term advisor to help the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago strengthen its capacity for financial supervision. The advisor will assist with, and provide training on, consolidated supervision and cross-border risk assessment, including upgrading the reporting framework. |
Uruguay | Anti-Money Laundering and Combating of Terrorism (AML/CFT) | $59,800 | Two short-term expert visits will help develop a framework for identifying and assessing the money laundering (ML) and terrorist financing (TF) risks facing Uruguay, its institutions, and its financial services industry. The risk assessment is a key component of Uruguay’s national AML/CFT strategy. With this assistance the authorities will conduct a system wide assessment of ML and FT threats and vulnerabilities. |
Annex 2: JSA Joint Japan-Imf Field Visits
Purpose
The purpose of JSA joint Japan-IMF field visits is to provide the Japanese authorities with a firsthand view of how JSA funding is used in the field. These visits are designed to assess (1) how the local authorities value the work of the JSA-funded experts; (2) whether the local authorities are making effective use of the assistance; and (3) whether the TA is making a contribution to the reform process. Discussions may also touch on topical issues related to TA policy and operations.
Format
A joint mission usually includes two Japanese officials (a representative of the Ministry of Finance and a representative of the Japanese Executive Director’s Office) and an IMF staff member. Countries and projects are selected for review by the Japanese authorities based on a number of considerations to reflect different levels of economic development and structural reform and variation between regions and subject areas.
Once mission members receive briefing notes or are briefed at IMF headquarters, they visit recipient countries where TA is provided and, when possible, meet separately with the senior representatives of the host institution (usually the minister of finance, governor of the central bank, or chairman of the central statistical organization), the immediate counterparts to the expert (usually department heads), and the expert in question. In the case of seminars or training courses, meetings are also held with participants in the respective sessions or courses, as well as with officials in charge of human resources development at the relevant training institutions. Meetings are typically also held with any other concerned donor partners to seek their views.
Findings
To date, 15 missions have been carried out (covering 21 countries, two regional training institutes, the Pacific Financial Technical Assistance Center, the East Africa Regional Technical Assistance Center, and the Middle East Technical Assistance Center) since this practice was introduced in FY1996. The field visits have found that JSA funding is well administered and effectively used. In all the visits, the local authorities were well aware of, fully recognized the importance of, and expressed their appreciation for Japan’s financial support for the IMF TA program. The positive firsthand view gained by the Japanese authorities has contributed to Japan’s continued strong support, through its financing of the JSA, for the IMF TA program. A list of all field visits and a summary report of the field visit that took place in FY2009 are provided below. Reports on earlier field visits can be found in previous JSA Annual Reports.
Joint Field Visits in FY1996-FY20091
1. Fiji (Pacific Financial Technical Assistance Center) and Western Samoa, March 1996
2. Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic, June 1996
3. Zambia and Zimbabwe, December 1996
4. Russian Federation, July 1997
5. Bulgaria and Lithuania, June 1998
6. Indonesia, IMF-Singapore Regional Training Institute, and Thailand, June/July 1999
7. Belarus and Slovenia, June 2000
8. Azerbaijan and the Joint Vienna Institute, June 2001
9. Cambodia and the IMF-Singapore Regional Training Institute, June 2002
10. Mongolia and Timor-Leste, September 2002
11. Indonesia and Fiji, December 2003
12. Botswana and the East Africa Regional Technical Assistance Center, December 2005
13. Cambodia, the IMF-Singapore Regional Training Institute, and the Philippines, March 2007
14. Middle East Regional Technical Assistance Center, May 2008
15. Cambodia, and the IMF-Singapore Regional Training Institute, January 2009
Joint Field Visits in FY2009
In FY2009, two projects were selected by the Japanese government to be visited by the joint mission:2 a long-term resident advisor at the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC); and support for macroeconomic training at the IMF-Singapore Regional Training Institute (STI). Overall, the mission was satisfied with the outcome of the visits, and impressed with the work of the Fund’s TA program as demonstrated by the two projects. It was pleased with the projects’ (1) significance to the country/region, (2) ownership by the authorities, and (3) progress. The mission heard strong statements of support from the authorities on the work of the banking supervision advisor in Cambodia, and was given an opportunity to assess the quality of the two consultants at the STI. In both projects, there was a clear acknowledgement of Japan’s contribution to the country or the region through its JSA funding, and a call for extended support of the two specific projects, as well as more broadly for Fund TA. The Japan team acknowledged the value of the Fund’s JSA-financed TA work, but noted the difficulties in conveying the value of the projects to the public at large. Questions from the Japan team to the experts and the authorities were technical in nature. Some of the discussions reflected the team’s interest in disseminating Japan’s historical experience and expertise to recipient countries.
Cambodia, January 12-14, 2009
In Cambodia, the JSA has since 1994 supported TA activities at the NBC in banking supervision, restructuring the banking system, balance of payments and monetary statistics, foreign exchange operations, international reserves management, and information and computerization systems; at the Ministry of Finance in fiscal policy and macrofiscal management; at the Customs and Excise Department in strengthening customs administration; at the Ministries of Justice and Commerce in the preparatic of bankruptcy laws; and at the Ministry of Planning and National Statistics Institute in national accounts, price, and government finance statistics. As of this date, almost $6.4 million in JSA financing had been provided for IMF TA in Cambodia, which has contributed significantly to the overall IMF TA, for that country.
The FY2009 field visit to Phnom Penh (January 12-14, 2009) was to inspect the work of the JSA-financed resident advisor on banking supervision based in the NBC. The team met with the resident advisor; the Fund Resident Representative in Cambodia; and senior staff of the NBC, including the Governor, the Deputy Governor, and the Director for banking supervision. The team also met with the Ambassador and other senior staff from the Japanese embassy in Phnom Penh, as well as the Director of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) office in Phnom Penh.
The Governor noted the importance of the continuous banking reforms made possible by multiple long-term advisors funded by the JSA and IMF. The authorities at all levels were familiar with the substance of the advisor’s work and appreciative of the roles of Japan and the IMF in making the TA possible. The authorities praised the quality of the advisor’s work, as well as his ability to integrate with the staff in the central bank. Recognizing the low human-resource capacity at the bank, the authorities were grateful for the weekly training conducted by the advisor for bank supervisors. The Governor and the Deputy Governor made a strong call for continued support from the JSA and the Fund for banking supervision work in Cambodia.
The team reviewed recent written work of the advisor. The Japan team’s technical focus included a discussion of bank supervision in Japan, particularly during the Japanese financial crisis in the 1990s. The team noted some of the similarities between the challenges faced by Japan in rebuilding its economy after World War II, and the rebuilding necessary in Cambodia. The team noted that the authorities may benefit by a close liaison with the Bank of Japan.
The team meetings with JICA and the Japanese embassy focused on the extensive involvement of Japan in Cambodian development programs, as well as a confirmation that these entities were familiar with and supported the TA work of the Fund.
The IMF-Singapore Regional Training Institute, January 15-16, 2009
The IMF-Singapore Regional Training Institute, established in Singapore in May 1998 as a joint venture of the IMF and Singapore, provides training on macroeconomic and financial management and related legal and statistical issues to government officials from countries in the Asia and Pacific region to enhance the economic and policymaking capacities of these countries.
From its establishment in 1998 through end-FY2009, the STI has trained about 6,900 officials. Participants are drawn mainly from central banks, ministries of finance, and national statistical agencies. Since its first year, when the STI offered 15 courses to about 450 participants (about 620 participant-weeks), its training has expanded considerably. In FY2009, 20 training events for almost 600 officials were held (about 1,045 participant-weeks). The JSA has contributed some $5.7 million in financing for experts and participant costs since the STI’s inception.
During its visit, the mission team reviewed the work of two JSA-financed consultants who conduct STI courses. The team also held discussions with the STI Director and other IMF staff, participated as observers in a lecture and a tutorial session of the Financial Programming and Policies course, and interacted with participants during the breaks.
The team was interested in the process of selecting course participants and the basis for course design. The STI Director responded that the STI works closely with the training managers of the agencies seeking training, IMF Resident Representative offices, and IMF area departments to ensure qualified candidates. Selection factors include the relevance of the course to the candidate’s job, the candidate’s readiness to take advantage of the course (based on experience and qualifications), and geographical balance to ensure cross-country perspectives. The training program consists of courses addressing the key facets of macroeconomic management, including training in associated areas such as data collection and statistical systems, public finance, financial regulation and supervision, and developing sound legal frameworks for macroeconomic and financial policy. The curriculum is anchored firmly in the IMF’s expertise and continually updated to address the key analytic and policy issues facing the region. Drawing on a range of feedback and evaluation mechanisms, it reflects input from national agencies, course participants, and other stakeholders in the region. The delivery model is quite different from the typical graduate school, balancing rigorous analytical lectures with practical workshops for hands-on training.
Some other aspects of the STI’s work were also discussed, in response to questions from the team. STI staff noted that training was a way of strengthening the basis for communication and dialogue between the IMF and national authorities, and they also observed that case studies reflect the important economic links between Japan and other countries in the region, given that Japan is a key player in trade and capital markets of the region.
The Japan team members indicated that they were impressed with the work of the STI, recognized the additional demand for training, and urged STI staff to explore possible ways by which Japan could contribute intellectually to STI, including through guest lecturers from the Bank of Japan.
Annex 3: Administered Accounts–Japan Financial Statement Fy2009
Administrated Account for Selected Fund Activities—Japan | Framework Administered Account for Technical Assistance Activities—Subaccount for Japan Advanced Scholarship Program | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2009 | 2008 | 2009 | 2008 | ||
(Thousands of U.S. dollars) | |||||
Balance Sheet as of April 30, 2009 and 2008 | |||||
Assets | |||||
Cash and cash equivalents | 22,442 | 20,509 | 1,137 | 1,025 | |
Total assets | 22,442 | 20,509 | 1,137 | 1,025 | |
Resources | |||||
Total resources | 22,442 | 20,509 | 1,137 | 1,025 | |
Income Statements and Changes in Resources | |||||
for the Years Ended April 30, 2009 and 2008 | |||||
Balance, beginning of the year | 20,509 | 22,638 | 1,025 | 1,245 | |
Income earned on investments | 290 | 1,097 | 20 | 60 | |
Contributions received | 20,963 | 18,244 | 1,586 | 1,520 | |
Payments to and on behalf of beneficiaries | (19,320) | (21,470) | (1,494) | (1,800) | |
Net changes in resources | 1,933 | (2,129) | 112 | (220) | |
Balance, end of the year | 22,442 | 20,509 | 1,137 | 1,025 |
Administrated Account for Selected Fund Activities—Japan | Framework Administered Account for Technical Assistance Activities—Subaccount for Japan Advanced Scholarship Program | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2009 | 2008 | 2009 | 2008 | ||
(Thousands of U.S. dollars) | |||||
Balance Sheet as of April 30, 2009 and 2008 | |||||
Assets | |||||
Cash and cash equivalents | 22,442 | 20,509 | 1,137 | 1,025 | |
Total assets | 22,442 | 20,509 | 1,137 | 1,025 | |
Resources | |||||
Total resources | 22,442 | 20,509 | 1,137 | 1,025 | |
Income Statements and Changes in Resources | |||||
for the Years Ended April 30, 2009 and 2008 | |||||
Balance, beginning of the year | 20,509 | 22,638 | 1,025 | 1,245 | |
Income earned on investments | 290 | 1,097 | 20 | 60 | |
Contributions received | 20,963 | 18,244 | 1,586 | 1,520 | |
Payments to and on behalf of beneficiaries | (19,320) | (21,470) | (1,494) | (1,800) | |
Net changes in resources | 1,933 | (2,129) | 112 | (220) | |
Balance, end of the year | 22,442 | 20,509 | 1,137 | 1,025 |
In this report, unless a distinction is made, the term “JSA” also includes its predecessor, the JAA (lapan Administered Technical Assistance Account).
The reference to fiscal year in this report is to the IMF fiscal year, which runs from May 1 through April 30. This report thus covers the period May 1, 2008-April 30, 2009. Reports on FY2000-FY2008 can be found on the IMF website, under www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/ta/index.asp.
As of the end of the period covered by this report, there were 185 member countries. Kosovo, the IMF’s 186th member, joined in June 2009.
For further information on the IMF financial assistance programs, see www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/howlend. htm.
Additional information on the IMF technical assistance activities can be found under www.imf.org/external/np/ exr/facts/tech.htm.
The IMF currently cosponsors seven regional training institutes/programs with other donors and host governments: the Joint Vienna Institute in Austria; the IMF-Singapore Regional Training Institute in Singapore; the IMF-Arab Monetary Fund Regional Training Program in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; the Joint Africa Institute in Tunis, Tunisia; the Joint China-IMF Training Program in Dalian, China; the Joint Regional Training Center for Latin America in Brasilia, Brazil; and the Joint India-IMF Training Program in Pune, India.
The seven IMF regional technical assistance centers comprise three Africa Regional Technical Assistance Centers (Central AFRITAC, based in Libreville, Gabon; East AFRI-TAC, based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; and West AFRITAC, based in Bamako, Mali); the Central America, Panama and Dominican Republic Regional Technical Assistance Center (CAPTAC-DR), based in Guatemala City, Guatemala; the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Center (CARTAC), based in Bridgetown, Barbados; the Middle East Regional Technical Assistance Center (METAC), based in Beirut, Lebanon; and the Pacific Financial Technical Assistance Center (PFTAC), based in Suva, Fiji.
IMF headquarters-based activities related to technical assistance, such as headquarters-based TA, policy and research, evaluation, management, and administration, were financed internally.
RSNs were introduced in FY2008 as part of the IMF’s efforts to enhance its TA prioritization process.
Because of the time required for the contracting and fielding ot experts, and for payment of invoices, there is a time lag between commitment and disbursement. The duration of a ISA-funded TA project is typically 6 to 12 months.
This represents an 11 percent increase in the amount approved and a 22 percent increase in the number of projects funded compared with FY2008 (see Table 2).
The IMF arranges for an annual audit of the JSA to be undertaken by its external auditors in connection with the annual audit of the IMF’s own accounts, and for a separate certificate of completion to be provided to the Japanese authorities. See Annex 3 for the audited financial statements of the JSA and the Japan Advanced Scholarship Program for FY2009.
As of the end of FY2009, there were seven regional training centers and six RTACs. A seventh RTAC was established in June 2009.
This reflects the priority given to the countries of this region under JSA financing guidelines.
Multiregional projects are those with beneficiaries from more than one region. Annex 1 includes descriptions of such projects.
Starting with the FY2008 report, JSA commitments for countries in Central Asia (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) are included with countries in the Middle East to better align recorded data with the reconfiguration of the IMF’s former two European departments and Middle East department into a single European department and a Middle East and Central Asia department.
One way the IMF measures its technical assistance is by recording the time spent by IMF staff and experts on such activities. A person-year is equivalent to about 260 working days.
ln FY2003, as part of a larger effort to strengthen monitoring and evaluation of IMF technical assistance, a multiyear program of TA evaluations was introduced under which the results of three to four evaluations covering a mix of topics are presented each year to the IMF Executive Board.
See “Technical Assistance Evaluation Program: Findings of Evaluations and Updated Program,” available at www.imf.org/external/np/pp/eng/2008/040408.pdf, for a list of completed evaluations, with links to the reports.
The scholarship program targets candidates from Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Mongolia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam, as well as the Pacific Island countries.
Under the Japan-IMF Scholarship Program for Asia, an academic year refers to the period October 1-September 30. Thus, academic year 2008 refers to the period October 1, 2008-September 30, 2009.
Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Hitotsubashi University, International University of Japan, and Yokohama National University.
Under the Japan-IMF Advanced Scholarship Program, an academic year refers to the period August 1-July 31 (e.g., the academic year 2007 refers to the period August 1, 2007-July 31,2008).
Because of scheduling difficulties, joint field visits were not carried out in FY2005.
The joint Japan-IMF review team consisted of Mr. Hiromi Yamaoka, IMF Alternate Executive Director for Japan; Mr. Hironori Shouji, International Organizational Division, Ministry of Finance; and Mr. Harish Mendis, Senior Technical Assistance Officer, IMF Office of Technical Assistance Management.