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International Monetary Fund. Institute for Capacity Development
Capacity Development (CD), comprising technical assistance and training, fosters economic development by improving human capital and institutions in member countries. Every five years, the IMF reviews its CD Strategy to ensure that CD continues to be of high quality and well-focused on the needs of its members. This review calls for CD to become more flexible, integrated with the Fund’s policy advice and lending, and tailored to respond to member needs. The review benefitted from the recent independent evaluation of the Fund’s CD and a wide range of inputs, including internal and external consultations, surveys of recipients and development partners, staff background studies and recommendations of an External Advisory Group. The vision for CD is informed by the Fund’s comparative advantages and surveillance priorities. The proposals of the current review center around the six key areas: (1) strengthening CD prioritization and integration; (2) enhancing the funding model; (3) strengthening monitoring and evaluation; (4) modernizing modalities; (5) enhancing field presence; and (5) strengthening human resources policies for staff working on CD.
International Monetary Fund. Institute for Capacity Development
This supplement includes five background papers and provides background information on various aspects of capacity development (CD) for the main Board paper, Review of the Fund’s Capacity Development Strategy—Towards a More Flexible, Integrated, and Tailored Model. It is divided into five sections, each consisting of a different background paper. The five sections cover (1) CD Delivery Modalities; (2) Evaluation and Impact; (3) Regional Capacity Development Centers and Field Presence; (4) HR Policies; and (5) Mapping the Fund’s Position vis-à-vis Other CD Providers.
Chikako Baba
,
Ting Lan
,
Ms. Aiko Mineshima
,
Florian Misch
,
Magali Pinat
,
Asghar Shahmoradi
,
Jiaxiong Yao
, and
Ms. Rachel van Elkan
Geoeconomic fragmentation (GEF) is becoming entrenched worldwide, and the European Union (EU) is not immune to its effects. This paper takes stock of GEF policies impinging on—and adopted by—the EU and considers how exposed the EU is through trade, financial and technological channels. Motivated by current policies adopted by other countries, the paper then simulates how various measures—raising costs of trade and technology transfer and fossil fuel prices, and imposition of sectoral subsidies—would affect the EU economy. Due to its high-degree of openness, the EU is found to be exposed to GEF through multiple channels, with simulated losses that differ significantly across scenarios. From a welfare perspective, this suggests the need for a cautious approach to GEF policies. The EU’s best defence against GEF is to strengthen the Single Market while advocating for a multilateral rules-based trading system.
International Monetary Fund. African Dept.
This Selected Issues paper on Cote d’Ivoire focuses on assessing the scope for domestic revenue mobilization. Côte d’Ivoire’s tax revenue has been increasing in recent years, supported by the authorities’ efforts, particularly on tax administration and digitalization. However, tax revenue remains low by international standards reflecting tax exemptions as well as low level of indirect taxation and noncompliance. While recent tax measures are encouraging, more policy changes are necessary, and should be anchored in comprehensive tax policy and administration reforms to boost revenue mobilization. Côte d’Ivoire’s tax policy reforms should focus on simplifying the personal income tax regime and enhancing its progressivity; reducing or eliminating discretionary and statutory tax exemptions; and harnessing unrealized revenue potential of property and excise taxes. Tax administration reforms should be sustained to further modernize tax and customs administration; deepen digitalization; and enhance management of human resources.
Mr. Sanjeev Gupta
,
Sugata Marjit
, and
Sandip Sarkar
Distribution neutral fiscal policy refers to a structure of taxes and transfers that keep the income distribution unchanged even after positive or negative shocks to an economy. This is referred to as a Strong Pareto Superior (SPS) allocation which improves the standard Pareto criterion by keeping the degree of inequality, but not the absolute level of income intact. We apply this methodology to India to compute SPS tax rates and determine their proximity to actual tax rates. Limited available data on income and expenditure shows that the official policies so far are close to desired benchmark level. Our methodological contribution will be enriched further with more detailed income tax and transfer data.
International Monetary Fund
The Global Financial Safety Net (GFSN) has expanded considerably since 2008, including in the non-traditional elements of the safety net such as Regional Financing Arrangements (RFAs). The resulting multi-layered structure of the GFSN makes collaboration between its various elements more important than in the past. Specifically, stronger collaboration between the Fund and RFAs would help increase the effective firepower of the GFSN and ensure a timely deployment of resources. The Fund’s experience in macroeconomic adjustment and its universal risk pooling would combine with the greater regional knowledge and country ownership brought the RFA. In this way, improved collaboration between the Fund and RFAs, including in co-financing, would significantly reduce the risk of contagion by encouraging countries to seek early assistance from the Fund. This paper is part of a broader set of proposals to fortify the GFSN (IMF, 2017b, c, d). It proposes both modalities for collaboration—across capacity development, surveillance, and lending—and some operational principles to help guide future co-lending between the Fund and the various RFAs. To date, the only operational guidance to facilitate collaboration has been limited to the high-level 2011 G20 Principles for Cooperation between the IMF and RFAs. Building on several case studies and the principles derived from them, this paper proposes an operational framework for future engagement. It aims to start a more structured dialogue between the Fund and individual RFAs on the modalities of how best to work together.
International Monetary Fund
We have been asked by the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund to undertake an external review of the activities of its Independent Evaluation Office (IEO). This is the second such evaluation in the IEO’s twelve year history. The first review, led by Karin Lissakers (the “Lissakers Report”), was presented to the Board in 2006. That report considered the extent to which the Office had succeeded during its first five years of operation in fulfilling its mandates and made recommendations to enhance its role within the IMF’s institutional architecture. Our report thus focuses on IEO activities since 2006. As set out in the terms of reference of our Panel (see Appendix I), the central objective of this report is to evaluate how well the IEO has met its institutional mandates. The terms of reference, while not constraining the range of issues we could consider, also asks that we “assess the IEO’s effectiveness along several dimensions, including: (i) the appropriateness of evaluation topics; (ii) the independence of the IEO; (iii) the cost-effectiveness of the IEO and its operations; and (iv) the appropriateness and adequacy of the evaluation process including, but not limited to, how IEO recommendations are endorsed by the Board and implemented.”
Mr. Clinton R. Shiells
,
Mr. Antonio Spilimbergo
,
Mr. Vladimir Klyuev
, and
Raghuram Rajan
The IMF Research Bulletin, a quarterly publication, selectively summarizes research and analytical work done by various departments at the IMF and also provides a listing of research documents and other research-related activities, including conferences and seminars. The Bulletin is intended to serve as a summary guide to research done at the IMF on various topics, and to provide a better perspective on the analytical underpinnings of the IMF’s operational work.
International Monetary Fund
Regional technical assistance centers have become an increasingly important modality for Fund technical assistance. This review is a response to Executive Directors' calls for close monitoring and regular evaluation of their operations. The centers include, the Africa Regional Technical Assistance Centers (AFRITACs), the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Center (CARTAC) and the Pacific Financial Technical Assistance Center.