Narrow Your Choices

Refine By Countries

Refine By Series

Refine By Language

Refine By Date

—

Refine By IMF Taxonomy

Refine By JEL Taxonomy

Refine by LOC Taxonomy

Refine By THEMA Taxonomy

  • Print
  • Save

Business and Economics > Finance: General

You are looking at 1 - 10 of 21 items for :

  • Type: Journal Issue x
Clear All Modify Search
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Guatemala: 2023 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Guatemala
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This 2023 Article IV Consultation highlights that Guatemala's solid record of accomplishment of prudent macroeconomic policies and large remittance inflows provided the country with large buffers to weather a challenging global environment and tightened global financial conditions. Inflationary pressures remain high; with April 2023 headline inflation at 8.32 percent. The currency has remained stable and the external balances solid, despite a large import bill. The financial sector has proven resilient to global financial tightening conditions and domestic interest rate hikes. Guatemala stays an economy with untapped opportunities. Scaling up the implementation of a transformative infrastructure agenda, fostering human capital and social policies, and enhancing legal certainty are critical to support a sustainable and inclusive medium-term growth model with higher potential growth. While the global outlook is challenging, the current conjuncture also offers many opportunities to draw on the demographic dividend and to fast track reforms to improve the business climate environment and attract foreign investment.
Keywords:
inflation development; Guatemala's regime; authorities' effort; Guatemalan authorities; tax administration enforcement; headline inflation; Government finance statistics; Public sector; Global; Central America
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Guatemala: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. Western Hemisphere Dept.
Selected Issues
Keywords:
export development; income quintile; export complexity; export determinant; International Monetary Fund Washington, d.c; Exports; Inflation; Food prices; Export performance; Consumer price indexes; Global; Central America; East Asia; North America; Caribbean
Cover IMF Working Papers
Financing for the Post-pandemic Recovery: Developing Domestic Sovereign Debt Markets in Central America
Jean François Clevy
,
Mr. Guilherme Pedras
, and
Mrs. Esther Perez Ruiz
The pandemic has urged countries around the globe to mobilize financing to support the recovery. This is even more relevant in Central America, where the policy response to cushion the pandemic’s economic and social impact has accentuated pre-existing debt vulnerabilities. This paper documents the potential for local currency bond markets to diversify and expand financing for the recovery, lowering bond yields, funding volatility, and exposure to global shocks. The paper further identifies priority actions, both national and regional, to support market development.
Keywords:
Bond Markets; Fiscal Deficit; Public Debt; Global Spillovers.; financing condition; pre-existing debt vulnerability; sovereign bond bond yield; market development; LCBM development; Yield curve; Securities markets; Government debt management; Government securities; Global; Central America
Cover IMF Working Papers
Fintech Potential for Remittance Transfers: A Central America Perspective
Julia Bersch
,
Jean François Clevy
,
Naseem Muhammad
,
Mrs. Esther Perez Ruiz
, and
Mr. Yorbol Yakhshilikov
This paper analyzes the potential for fintech to facilitate cheaper and more efficient remittances, and to enhance financial inclusion in Central America. Digital remittances remain nascent in the region, primarily reflecting behavioral inertia, small cost advantages of digital over traditional channels, and inadequate financial literacy. Through expanded alliances between traditional and fintech operators, digital remittances can further reduce transaction costs and reach those remote, low-income households in a timely and secure manner. A meaningful expansion of fintech remittances necessitates an enabling regulatory environment for digital financial services, and KYC and AML/CFT requirements proportionate to the value of transfers.
Keywords:
remittances digitalization; Fintech remittance; remittances corridor; C. remittances cost; remittances' fee; Remittances; Mobile banking; Financial inclusion; Fintech; Global; Central America; Caribbean; South Asia; East Asia
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
El Salvador: 2019 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for El Salvador
International Monetary Fund. Western Hemisphere Dept.
This 2019 Article IV Consultation discusses that structural reforms, strengthened policy frameworks and the ongoing smooth political transition have laid the foundations for sustained growth in El Salvador. The discussions focused on policies that build on these achievements and address fiscal vulnerabilities, boost long-term growth, and strengthen the governance, anticorruption and Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism frameworks. Continued US dollar appreciation led to a significant decline in inflation and widening of the current account deficit. The authorities agreed that debt would continue to drift upward in the absence of measures, and that weaker-than-expected global growth could have a negative impact on the domestic economy. The authorities emphasized their commitment to guarantee a smooth political transition by sharing information with the new administration and by inviting the Audit Office to oversee the handover process. It is recommended to improve the governance and anticorruption frameworks by increasing the fiscal transparency of the 2020 budget laws, strengthening audit and spending controls, and promptly implementing electronic invoicing.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; debt; IMF staff estimate; authority; dollar; financial system; liability positions vis-à-vis nonresident; public funds; interest bill; prevention effort; Public sector; Fiscal stance; Fiscal consolidation; Global; Central America
Cover Staff Discussion Notes
Fiscal Policy and Development: Human, Social, and Physical Investments for the SDGs
Vitor Gaspar
,
Mr. David Amaglobeli
,
Ms. Mercedes Garcia-Escribano
,
Delphine Prady
, and
Mauricio Soto
The goal of this paper is to estimate the additional annual spending required for meaningful progress on the SDGs in these areas. Our estimates refer to additional spending in 2030, relative to a baseline of current spending to GDP in these sectors. Toward this end, we apply an innovative costing methodology to a sample of 155 countries: 49 low- income developing countries, 72 emerging market economies, and 34 advanced economies. And we refine the analysis with five country studies: Rwanda, Benin, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Guatemala.
Keywords:
SDN; developing country; low-income developing countries; emerging market economy; spending; GDP; Sustainable Development Goals; Development; Fiscal Policy; equity-enhancing expenditure priority; spending pressure; enhancing spending efficiency; countries spend; spending estimate; Emerging and frontier financial markets; Sustainable Development Goals (SDG); Global; Sub-Saharan Africa; Asia and Pacific
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Guatemala: Selected Issues and Analytical Notes
International Monetary Fund. Western Hemisphere Dept.
This Selected Issues paper estimates potential output growth and the output gap for Guatemala. Potential output growth averaged 4.4 percent just before the global financial crisis but has since declined to 3.75 percent owing to lower capital accumulation and total factor productivity (TFP) growth. It is estimated at 3.8 percent in 2016, and the output gap has virtually closed. Potential growth is expected to reach 4 percent in the medium term owing to the expected improvements in TFP growth. Policies should also prioritize mobilizing domestic savings to invest and build a higher capital stock.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; GDP; yield; Guatemala; food inflation; inflation headline inflation; inflation expectation; macroeconomic fundamentals; commodity price inflation; nominal interest rate; Financial inclusion; Inflation; Financial sector development; Credit; Global; Central America; Asia and Pacific; Caribbean
Cover IMF Working Papers
Financial Inclusion: Zooming in on Latin America
Ms. Era Dabla-Norris
,
Yixi Deng
,
Anna Ivanova
,
Ms. Izabela Karpowicz
,
Ms. Filiz D Unsal
,
Eva VanLeemput
, and
Joyce Wong
Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) have made important strides in promoting financial inclusion of firms and households. However, while the region is broadly at par with its peers on financial inclusion of firms, household inclusion lags behind. Nonetheless, there is substantial heterogeneity across LAC countries. Reducing borrowing costs and strengthening further the regulatory environment, while taking steps to protect efficiency and stability of the financial system, could help close financial inclusion gaps. Reducing financial participation and monitoring costs and relaxing collateral constraints will help spur growth and reduce inequality though trade-offs are likely, as illustrated in the case of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Peru.
Keywords:
WP; firm; inclusion gap; bank; cost; finance; Latin America; Financial inclusion; Growth; Inequality; firm employment distribution; World Bank enterprise; enterprise inclusion; leveraged firm; amount firm; firms of credit opportunity; informal finance; firm FI gap; Personal income; Collateral; Income inequality; Credit; Asia and Pacific; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Guatemala: Selected Issues and Analytical Notes
International Monetary Fund. Middle East and Central Asia Dept.
This Selected Issues paper estimates both Guatemala’s potential output and output gap using a wide range of econometric techniques. The analysis suggests that Guatemala’s potential output growth is about 3.5 percent for the whole sample period and that the output gap is almost closed. Results are highly robust among different methodologies. Among the methods used, several well-known time series filters and two different estimations of a state-space model are included. Additionally, a test for structural breaks in the series of potential GDP is presented. All methodologies conclude that the output gap at the end of 2012 is almost closed at -0.2 percent of potential GDP.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; Guatemala; output gap help; debtor position; net; fund staff estimate; monetary policy rate; creditor position; Potential output; Basel III; Fiscal consolidation; Global; Europe; Caribbean
Cover IMF Working Papers
Developments in Financial Supervision and the Use of Macroprudential Measures in Central America
Mr. Mynor Meza
and
Mr. Fernando L Delgado
Improvements in financial regulation and supervision in the Central American region (CAPDR) have strengthened financial stability. Prudential instruments with potential macroeconomic effects have been introduced. Nonetheless, compared with the larger Latin American and selected industrial countries, there is still important scope for CAPDR to enhance financial supervision and regulation. Based on two surveys, and the analysis of the Basel Core Principles, the paper determines that some weaknesses exist in risk-based supervision, and that macroprudential measures have scarcely been deployed.
Keywords:
WP; CAPDR; BCP compliance index; foreign exchange; BCP assessment; BCP principle; capital; financial regulation; financial supervision; Basel Core Principles; Basel III; macroprudential policy; Central America; Latin America; CAPDR country; financial activity; Risk-based supervision; Macroprudential policy instruments; Consolidated banking supervision; Global