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Oleg Churiy
and
Bernard J Laurens
At the request of the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan (RMA), an IMF South Asia Regional Training and Technical Assistance Center (SARTTAC) visited Thimphu during August 20-29, 2024. The mission’s objectives were to assist the authorities in setting up interest rate corridor (IRC) and operationalizing the related instruments, operations, liquidity forecasting, and collateral frameworks.
International Monetary Fund. Asia and Pacific Dept
and
International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department
In August 2024, at the request of the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan (RMA), the IMF South Asia Regional Training and Technical Assistance Center (SARTTAC) conducted a Technical Assistance (TA) mission in Thimphu. The mission aimed to assist the RMA in establishing an interest rate corridor (IRC) and operationalizing related instruments, liquidity forecasting, and collateral frameworks. The mission identified that the RMA lacks necessary monetary policy instruments to effectively address changing systemic liquidity conditions and financial stability challenges. It emphasized the need to move away from reliance on administrative controls, as the absence of appropriate price incentives reinforces the preference for foreign exchange among Bhutanese residents, increasing pressures on the peg. To tackle these issues, the mission proposed a phased approach to introduce the IRC. Initially, relevant external and internal documents should be finalized, followed by mock operations. The first phase involves introducing a one-week main Open Market Operation (OMO), conducted weekly at the policy rate with full allotment. Automatic access to the IRC's standing facilities should be ensured. Later, fixed-quantity, variable-rate OMOs should be utilized, relying on liquidity forecasting to calibrate operations. Additionally, the mission recommended reinstating sweeping arrangements for government accounts and enhancing coordination with the Treasury to improve liquidity forecasting. These measures aim to strengthen the RMA's operational framework and enhance the effectiveness of monetary policy.
International Monetary Fund. Legal Dept.
The background papers support the stocktaking analysis and the proposed way forward for the 2023 review of the IMF's AML/CFT Strategy. The five background papers provide in-depth discussions on the following key topics: (i) illicit financial flows; (ii) the impact of money laundering in financial stability; (iii) synergies between financial integrity issues and other Fund policies and work; (iv) the Fund’s collaboration with key partners in the AML/CFT global policy architecture; and (v) stakeholders’ views of the effectiveness of the Fund’s AML/CFT engagement.
International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department
This Technical Assistance report highlights that setting up a liquidity forecasting framework would go a long way in establishing a key building block allowing the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan (RMA) to fulfil its legal mandate to formulate and implement monetary policy in ways better aligned with current central bank practices. The structural liquidity surplus, mainly due to foreign reserves accumulation, has been broadly stable in the absence of RMA intervention. The paper discusses that the volatility of autonomous factors and the fragmentation of the money market justify ambitious steps by the RMA towards setting up a liquidity management framework. The mission identified several constraints and gaps that need to be addressed to support the effectiveness of a liquidity forecasting framework. The mission’s recommendations presented in the report aim at streamlining the processing of the Government’s financial transactions and cash balances. Looking ahead, monetary policy transmission would benefit from developing RMA’s liquidity forecasting and management capacity.
International Monetary Fund
The review of PRGT-eligibility, conducted biennially, is guided by a transparent, rules-based, and parsimonious framework. The framework determines which IMF members can access concessional resources based on an assessment of their level of income per capita, market access, and serious short-term vulnerabilities. Application of the framework should be consistent with the self-sustainability of the PRGT’s lending capacity over time. This paper concludes that the existing framework remains generally appropriate. The PRGT-eligibility framework is broadly aligned with the World Bank’s International Development Association practices, with minor differences between the lists of eligible countries explained by differences in the mandates of the two institutions and the timing of their respective review cycles. None of the countries that have graduated from the PRGT-eligibility list are at immediate risk of re-entering it. No country is proposed for graduation from or entry onto the PRGT-eligibility list. While thirteen countries meet either the income or market access graduation criterion, all are assessed to be facing serious short-term vulnerabilities and thus none are proposed for graduation. No non-PRGT-eligible country meets the criteria for entry onto the PRGT-eligibility list. The proposal to keep the list of PRGT-eligible countries unchanged is consistent with the self-sustained capacity of the PRGT.
International Monetary Fund
Bhutan’s growth was resilient to the financial crisis and the outlook remains positive. Containing fiscal expansion and enhancing liquidity management are necessary to avoid economic overheating. Strengthening bank supervision is also a top priority.