Business and Economics > Public Finance
Abstract
This issue of the Asia & Pacific Small States Monitor focuses on the challenges facing Asia and Pacific small states associated with natural disasters and climate change. Most tourism-oriented economies experienced a robust increase in arrivals, partly reflecting country-specific factors. Among commodity exporters (Bhutan, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste) and other Asia and Pacific small states, growth remains uneven: robust activity in Bhutan was driven mainly by hydropower-related construction activities; Solomon Islands experienced a continuing decline of logging stocks and a short-term disruption of gold production; and Timor-Leste’s ongoing depletion of oil reserves has led to a tighter budget constraint and lower government spending in the non-oil sector.
Abstract
The world and the IMF have undergone profound changes since the Bretton Woods Conference. James Boughton, former historian of the IMF, looks at key events that have shaped the IMF and the international scene. From the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 to the Great Recession, this essay focuses on 11 events in history that have influenced the design and work of the IMF, as well as the international monetary system. This booklet, prepared for the 70th anniversary of the IMF, is an excerpt from a longer essay that is available on the IMF eLibrary. It is an excellent primer on the motivation behind the founding of the IMF and the evolution of the organization.
Abstract
This paper provides an analysis of the Tribunal’s jurisprudence for the period is provided in an introductory chapter “Developments in the Jurisprudence of the International Monetary Fund Administrative Tribunal: 2006.” In deciding on an application, the Tribunal shall apply the internal law of the IMF, including generally recognized principles of international administrative law concerning judicial review of administrative acts. The guidelines provide for performance assessments at prescribed intervals during the fixed term and impose obligations on both the fixed-term appointee and supervisors. The Tribunal emphasized that the provisions governing the mandatory resignation and possible subsequent reemployment of staff who serve as Advisors to Executive Directors indicate that a staff member who so resigns has no assured right to resume employment as a member of the IMF’s staff. In order to assess whether an Applicant has initiated administrative review procedures on a timely basis, the Administrative Tribunal may be required to determine when the Applicant was on notice that he had been adversely affected by an administrative act of the IMF.
Abstract
Volume IV of IMF Administrative Tribunal Reports contains the Judgments and Orders of the IMF Administrative Tribunal rendered during the year 2005. An analysis of the Tribunal’s jurisprudence for the period is provided in an introductory chapter “Developments in the Jurisprudence of the IMF Administrative Tribunal: 2005.” A detailed topical Index of the Judgments and Orders is included near the end of the volume. Finally, the reader will find republished as an Appendix to this volume the Tribunal’s Statute, Rules of Procedure, and the Report of the International Monetary Fund’s Executive Board on the establishment of the Administrative Tribunal. The Tribunal initially addressed the Applicant’s principal claim, that the abolition of his position represented an abuse of managerial discretion. Referring to the governing provisions of the IMF’s internal law, the Tribunal noted that the essential requirements for a lawful abolition of position are that the position has been abolished or redesigned to meet institutional needs and the incumbent is no longer qualified to fulfill its requirements.
Abstract
This paper provides a brief description of the IMF and its activities, focusing in particular on its technical assistance (TA) activities. The report then describes in greater detail the Japan Administered Account for Selected Fund Activities (JSA)—including its scope and objectives, the size and uses of the TA contribution, and assessments of its TA activities and scholarship programs—with a focus on fiscal year (FY) 2009. Japan has provided grant contributions to support IMF technical assistance to member countries since 1990. In 1997, the scope of the administered account was widened to allow for financing other IMF activities in Asia and the Pacific, carried out through the IMF Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in Tokyo. Regular consultations are held between the IMF and the Japanese authorities; the most recent formal meeting took place in April 2009. The use of JSA resources is flexible. JSA funds can be used to cover the cost of short- and long-term TA experts and other costs associated with conducting seminars and workshops, such as room rental fees.
Abstract
This paper discusses that during 2000–2002, the Tribunal considered a number of issues of substantive law upon which it had not previously been called upon to rule. These included interpretation of a provision of the IMF’s Staff Retirement Plan that permits the IMF, pursuant to specified procedures, to give effect to orders for family support and division of marital property issued by domestic courts. Having the benefit of the extensive pleadings of all three parties, the Tribunal rendered a decision resolving the merits of the dispute. The Tribunal considered the evidence offered by the IMF in support of the differential in benefits between the two categories of staff and concluded that the distinction was rationally related to the purposes of the employment benefits at issue. Tribunal also grappled during 2000–2002 with the complexities of its relationship to other elements of the IMF’s dispute resolution system. The IMFAT addressed the question of the admissibility before the Tribunal of an Application following dismissal of the complaint as untimely by the IMF’s Grievance Committee.
Abstract
This paper provides an analysis of the Tribunal’s jurisprudence for the period is provided in an introductory chapter, “Developments in the Jurisprudence of the International Monetary Fund Administrative Tribunal: 2003–2004.” The standard of review, understood as describing the relationship between the Administrative Tribunal and the decision maker responsible for the contested decision, represents the degree of deference accorded by the Tribunal to the decision maker’s judgment. The standard of review is designed to set limits on the improper exercise of power and represents a legal presumption about where the risk of an erroneous judgment should lie. In defining the Tribunal’s standard of review in disability retirement cases, the Tribunal clarified its relationship to the channels of administrative review as follows. The Tribunal confirmed its authority to make both findings of fact and conclusions of law, and therefore to review de novo the legality of an administrative act of the IMF.
Abstract
This paper reports a brief description of the IMF and its activities, focusing in particular on its technical assistance (TA) activities. The report then describes in greater detail the Japan Administered Account for Selected Fund Activities (JSA)—including its objectives, size, scope, and use, as well as assessments of its activities, with a focus on fiscal year (FY) 2008—and the TA activities and scholarship programs that it finances. The IMF finances technical assistance for its member countries, devoting some 25 percent of its annual operating budget to TA work and training. Although most technical assistance is financed through internal resources, external financing from bilateral and multilateral partners has been increasing over the past few years and constitutes an important pillar. The responsibilities of the Regional Office in Tokyo include collaborative efforts between the IMF and Japan that strengthen economic prospects in the Asia-Pacific region, and also include support of various regional policy forums, such as Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and the Pacific Islands Forum.
Abstract
This paper presents a description of the IMF and its activities, focusing in particular on its technical assistance (TA) activities. The report then describes in greater detail the Japan Administered Account for Selected Fund Activities (JSA)—including its objectives, size, scope, and use, as well as assessments of its activities, with a focus on fiscal year (FY) 2007—and the TA activities and scholarship programs that it finances. The IMF’s technical assistance is delivered mainly by its Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD), Monetary and Capital Markets Department (MCM), and Statistics Department (STA). Japan provides grant contributions for two scholarship programs. In 1996, the Japan-IMF Scholarship Program for Advanced Studies, which is administered by the IMF Institute, was established. JSA resources can be used to cover the cost of short- and long-term TA experts and other costs associated with conducting seminars and workshops, such as room rental fees. Although TA activities financed by the JSA can take place in all areas of the world, the Japanese authorities place high priority on funding TA activities in Asia and the Pacific, Central Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, and countries of the former Soviet Union.
Abstract
This chapter focuses on IMF’s technical assistance (TA) activities and describes Japan Administered Account for Selected Fund Activities (JSA) including its objectives, size, scope, and use, as well as assessments of its activities, with focus on fiscal year. Activities to be funded from the JSA, as well as all other IMF TA activities, are planned each year. Reflecting greater global financial stability and fewer conflict situations over the past two years, FY2006 saw a reduction in JSA allocations for crisis prevention and the rehabilitation of economic and financial institutions in post-conflict countries, and an increase in JSA allocations for sustainable debt management and poverty reduction efforts. The distribution of the commitment of JSA funds among the subject areas has broadly reflected the foregoing distribution in the overall use of IMF resources for technical assistance. Japan also provides financial support for a scholarship program for qualified Asian nationals who want to study economics at the doctoral level at one of the leading universities in North America to pursue a career at the IMF or in their home country governments. The program covers tuition and reasonable costs for two years of study; scholars are expected to cover the remaining years of study, typically through additional funding from their universities.