Western Hemisphere > Belize

You are looking at 1 - 10 of 84 items for

  • Type: Journal Issue x
Clear All Modify Search
International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department
IMF conducted a mission at the request of the Central Bank of Belize provided technical assistance focusing on developing a framework for the supervision of electronic money issuers in Belize. The mission reviewed existing approaches to supervising firms conducting regulated financial activities, as well as the regulatory framework and licensing practices for e-money issuers only to the extent that they influence and impact effective supervision. The mission also met with other key stakeholders from the public and private sector setting out nine key recommendations covering risk-based supervision, data collection, reconciliations, transparency, fund safeguarding, permitted investments, agents, inspection reports, and domestic collaboration.
International Monetary Fund. Strategy, Policy, & Review Department
and
World Bank
The aim of this note is to help stakeholders optimize their decision-making on when, where, and how to use debt-for-development swaps (“debt swaps”), ensuring they bring the intended benefits to all parties involved. It also proposes new approaches to structure these mechanisms, making them less transaction-heavy and more sustainable while maintaining accountability for fulfilling policy and spending commitments. Debt swaps are agreements between a government and one or more of its creditors to replace existing sovereign debt with one or more liabilities1 that include a spending commitment towards a specific development goal. These goals may include nature conservation, climate action, education, nutrition, support for refugees, among others. The spending commitment is often associated with the country's decision to pursue an important development policy.
International Monetary Fund. Western Hemisphere Dept.
The 2024 Article IV Consultation with Belize highlights that real gross domestic product growth and inflation moderated in 2023. Belize’s key policy priorities include raising the primary balance with revenue mobilization and expenditure rationalization to lower public debt to a level that provides sufficient buffers, increasing expenditure in priority areas, adopting growth enhancing structural reforms, and building resilience to climate change and related disasters. These policies would boost growth and make it more inclusive. Boosting medium-term growth requires increasing female labor force participation, enhancing access to affordable credit for small and medium size enterprises, reducing crime, improving the business climate, and adopting a disaster resilience strategy that strengthens structural, financial, and post-disaster resilience and is based on a multi-year macro-fiscal framework. Keeping vulnerable financial institutions under enhanced supervision and requesting recapitalization when needed is important to maintain financial stability. Strengthening the currency peg requires increasing international reserves by reducing public debt, implementing structural reforms and limiting government financing by the Central Bank.