Asia and Pacific > Kiribati

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International Monetary Fund. Fiscal Affairs Dept.
This technical assistance mission assessed Kiribati’s agricultural output price scheme that subsidizes the production of copra (dried coconut). The mission estimates that subsidies in 2023 amounted to 7.8 percent of GDP. The scheme’s technical and allocative inefficiencies, incidence in rural areas, and high fiscal cost, could be mitigated in the short- and medium term, by scaling back the subsidies, replacing them in part with cash transfers and public goods provision in the outer islands, securing fiscal savings in the process, and introducing competitive elements in the copra value chain.
International Monetary Fund. Asia and Pacific Dept
KEY ISSUES Context. Donor-financed large infrastructure projects, increased public spending, and a pick-up in credit to households have boosted real GDP growth to close to 4 percent in 2014 and to about 3 percent in 2015. Inflation remains low, underpinned by lower food and commodity prices. Steps are being taken to reduce the many hurdles to private growth that Kiribati faces, among which are high transportation and communication costs and an increasing impact of climate change. Fiscal policy. The fiscal outlook has improved, but further efforts are needed to ensure sustainability. The recurrent balance was in large surplus in 2014 and is expected to remain positive in 2015, reflecting high revenue from license fees, and notwithstanding a large increase in expenditures. But under the historic pace of spending the sovereign wealth fund (Revenue Equalization Reserve Fund—RERF) would be depleted in about 20 years. Ensuring sustainability requires containing nominal expenditure growth to around 1½ per annum over the next five years (after accommodating climate-change-related costs), with transparent and symmetric transfers and withdrawals from the RERF around this path. Structural reforms. There is a consensus among donors that significant progress has been achieved. The State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) Reform Act is being implemented in a satisfactory way, as illustrated by the recent successful privatization of the telecommunication company. Key outstanding issues include further reforming the energy and copra sectors and improving the investment climate.
International Monetary Fund
This note highlights the unique economic characteristics and constraints facing small developing states. It provides operational guidance on Fund engagement with such countries, including on how small country size might influence the use of Fund facilities and instruments, program design, capacity building activities, and collaboration with other institutions and donors. The guidance note draws on the March 2013 Board papers on small states and the associated Executive Board discussion. The findings of the paper and implications for Fund engagement with small states were presented to small states authorities during the 2013 Annual Meetings, as well as in regional IMF conferences with small states in the Bahamas (September 2013) and Vanuatu (November 2013). Series
International Monetary Fund
This report presents data provided by the authorities during 2005–09, which include Kiribati's contributions to GDP growth and gross national product. It provides a summary of central government's operations, revenue 2005–09, central government expenditure (functional and economic classifications), salary structure 2004–08, and budgetary subsidies to public enterprises. Details of assets and the liabilities of the Development Bank of Kiribati, provident funds, ANZ bank's balance sheets and interest rates, and composition of exports and imports are also mentioned. It shows services and income, external grants, and external assets and liabilities as well.
International Monetary Fund
This Selected Issues paper focuses on recent developments with Kiribati’s Revenue Equalization Reserve Fund (RERF). The paper also examines fiscal aspects of climate change, and considers options for improving fishing license fees, which remain an important source of revenue. It also analyzes recent developments and the outlook for remittances to Kiribati, which is another important source of external revenue and brings important economic benefits, such as reducing poverty and stabilizing national income.
International Monetary Fund
This 2009 Article IV Consultation highlights that inflation in Kiribati increased to about 19 percent by end-2008, largely reflecting higher food prices. The current account deficit was broadly unchanged in 2008. Structural reforms are under way, although the pace has been limited by capacity constraints. Executive Directors have welcomed the recent improvement in economic activity. They have also welcomed the planned review and reform of public enterprises as critical to promoting private sector development, and to boosting the growth potential.
Miss Catriona Purfield
The formulation of fiscal policy in Kiribati faces unusual challenges. Kiribati's revenue base is among the most volatile in the world, and it possesses sizeable financial assets. Drawing on lessons from some other countries who experience high volatility in their revenues, this paper proposes a fiscal policy rule for Kiribati which is nested within a medium-term macroeconomic framework that aims to ensure the sustainable use of Kiribati's financial assets while managing the impact of extreme revenue volatility. It also discusses improvements in the institutional fiscal policy framework that could support such a framework.
International Monetary Fund
In recent years, the IMF has released a growing number of reports and other documents covering economic and financial developments and trends in member countries. Each report, prepared by a staff team after discussions with government officials, is published at the option of the member country.
International Monetary Fund
Kiribati is a country in the central Pacific Ocean and one of the least-developed Pacific island economies. A large share of imports and government spending is financed from external grants and fishing license fees. The key policy development has been the adoption of a medium-term strategy, which focuses on reducing the role of the public sector to promote the development of the private sector. The improvement in the current and capital account balances has led to an increase in the overall balance.
Norman Loayza
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Mr. Paul Cashin
This paper examines the determinants of growth for nine South Pacific countries during the period 1971-93, using the analytical framework of the Solow-Swan neoclassical growth model. Chamberlain’s II-matrix estimator is used to account for unobserved country-specific heterogeneity in the growth process, and to control for errors-in-variables bias in calculations of real per-capita GDP. The speed of convergence of South Pacific countries to their respective steady-state levels of per-capita GDP, after controlling for the important regional effects of net international migration, is estimated at a relatively fast 4 percent per year. In addition, private and official transfers emanating from regional donor countries have kept the dispersion of real per-capita national disposable income constant over the period, despite a significant widening in the regional dispersion of real per-capita GDP.