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International Monetary Fund. Asia and Pacific Dept
Malaysia’s economic performance has significantly improved in 2024, supported by strong domestic and external demand. Disinflation is taking hold and external pressures have eased. The favorable economic conditions provide a window of opportunity to build macroeconomic policy buffers and accelerate structural reforms, especially as risks to growth are tilted to the downside amid an uncertain global outlook. Risks to the inflation outlook are tilted to the upside, including from global commodity price shocks and potential wage pressures.
International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department
India’s financial system has withstood the pandemic well and has become more resilient since the 2017 FSAP. Nonbank financial institutions (NBFIs)—especially nonbank financial companies (NBFCs) providing credit with wholesale financing—and market financing have grown, making the financial system more diverse and interconnected. The role of the state has diminished, yet it remains significant, including in using the financial system to pursue social and public finance goals.
International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department
The main objective of the FSSR diagnostic mission was to help the PNG authorities build a roadmap of technical assistance (TA) to address identified financial sector needs and gaps, with a view to strengthen resilience of financial institutions and to enhance the policy framework. The PNG FSSR diagnostic covered six areas: (i) macroprudential policy; (ii) regulation and supervision of banks and other deposit-taking financial institutions; (iii) regulation and supervision of insurance companies and pension funds; (iv) financial safety net and crisis preparedness framework; (v) financial market infrastructure; and (vi) financial sector statistics.
Petr Jakubik
The technical assistance aimed to build capacity to monitor and assess systemic risk for non-bank financial institutions in the Grenada Authority for the Regulation of Financial Institutions (GARFIN). The mission underlined the need to clarify the macroprudential mandate and cooperation with the ECCB to conduct the macroprudential work accordingly. A potential extension of the existing Annual Report and Accounts covering key financial stability indicators and their assessment could be considered. It further highlighted the need to revise the existing reporting templates to reflect systemic risk better. Finally, the important role of the data management system was underlined.
Corinne C Delechat
,
Umang Rawat
, and
Ara Stepanyan
As relatively small open economies, South-East Asian emerging markets (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand or ASEAN-4) are highly susceptible to external shocks—both financial and real—that could induce large capital flows and exchange rate volatility that could lead to foreign exchange market dysfunction. With the exception of Bank Negara Malaysia, ASEAN-4 central banks mostly have flexible inflation-targeting frameworks for monetary policy implementation. Their main policy objectives include medium-term price stability, sustainable economic growth, and financial stability. Central Banks in ASEAN-4 economies have been early pilots in the operationalization of the IMF’s Integrated Policy Framework (IPF) in 2022-23, given their experience in using multiple policy tools besides the monetary policy rate, including macroprudential measures, foreign exchange intervention (FXI), and capital flow management measures, to achieve their multiple objectives. They have welcomed the IPF as a systematic, frictions-based approach to analyze the use of these multiple tools to manage trade-offs across policy objectives. This paper takes stock of the experience from these pilots, both from the perspective of country authorities and of IMF country teams. It aims at distilling key lessons, which could be used to inform broader IPF operationalization. The IPF conceptual framework and a related quantitative model were used to assess policy trade-offs in ASEAN-4 in the event of adverse external shocks. These applications reaffirmed the importance of using monetary policy to address persistent inflationary pressures stemming from real shocks and allowing the exchange rate to act as a shock absorber. However, a complementary use of FXI could improve trade-offs between price, financial, and output stability when economies are faced with large and financial shocks that result in abrupt spikes in uncovered interest rate parity premia resulting in inefficiently tight financial conditions that could hurt growth or risking to de-anchor inflation expectations. The IPF pilots also highlighted some challenges faced when operationalizing IPF principles, notably regarding the assessment of frictions and shocks that might justify the use of FXI. In particular, country teams at times lacked sufficient information to adequately assess the extent of frictions. Moreover, the time-varying nature of IPF frictions and the non-linear effects of shocks make it difficult to assess situations when benefits of a complementary use of FXI would overweigh its costs.
International Monetary Fund. African Dept.
This paper presents South Africa’s Post-Financing Assessment report. The new government of national unity that took office in June faces significant challenges, including declining real per capita growth, high unemployment, poverty, and inequality, and a rising level of public debt. The new administration has committed to address these challenges by continuing ongoing structural reforms aimed at addressing supply constraints and bolstering inclusive growth, while maintaining fiscal discipline. Monetary policy should carefully manage the descent of inflation to the mid-point of the target range and stay data dependent. The report recommends that policies should focus on bolstering inclusive growth and restoring fiscal sustainability, while managing the descent of inflation to target and safeguarding financial stability. Monetary policy should stay data dependent and rate cuts be considered only after inflation declines sustainably toward the midpoint of the target range. The authorities should continue to monitor financial sector risks, including those related to the bank-sovereign nexus, and enhance supervision and prudential regulations.
International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department
This paper highlights Saudi Arabia’s Financial System Stability Assessment as part of Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP). The FSAP took place against the backdrop of a robust economy driven by an ambitious state-led transformation agenda to accelerate Saudi Arabia’s economic diversification (Vision 2030). The Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund plays a key role in implementing and funding the economic transformation. At present, financial sector risks from the rapid economic transformation appear contained. Banks are well-capitalized, profitable and appear resilient to severe macroeconomic shocks. Banks’ capacity to manage liquidity stress scenarios is generally good, although funding concentration is sizable. The authorities have made commendable efforts to mitigate risks from the rapidly growing credit and real estate market, but significant data gaps create challenges for systemic risk monitoring. The time is right to strengthen systemic risk monitoring and the legal, institutional, and operational frameworks in support of financial stability going forward.
International Monetary Fund. Legal Dept.

Abstract

A supplement to the Forty-Third Issue of Selected Decisions and Selected Documents of the International Monetary Fund, incorporating items posted after January 1, 2023.

International Monetary Fund. Middle East and Central Asia Dept.
This Selected Issues paper identifies the sources and quantifies the exchange market pressures on the Libyan dinar. The paper highlights that: (1) the cumulative pressure on the exchange rate has been negative; and (2) despite the alternating appreciation and depreciation pressures, foreign exchange reserves have remained relatively stable. The authorities’ toolkit is limited: they strive to maintain the stock of reserves at a high level and to keep the exchange rate peg intact, all without the use of fiscal policy or of conventional monetary policy instruments. Therefore, developing conventional monetary policy tools and making sure that fiscal policy is consistent with the overall macroeconomic objectives would help the authorities achieve their goals without resorting to capital flow measures. While Libya had periods of both depreciation and appreciation pressures, overall, it faced substantial depreciation pressure. In other words, Libya’s policies over the medium term were not in line with the three-pronged macroeconomic objective of maintaining high foreign reserves, a pegged official exchange rate, and a narrow gap between the parallel and the official exchange rates. The findings suggest that additional monetary tools and the use of fiscal policy can help contain the parallel market premium and avoid the use of capital flow measures.
International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department
This technical note analyzes the key aspects of the regulatory and supervisory regime for insurance companies in Luxembourg. The analysis is part of the 2024 Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) and based on the regulatory framework in place and the supervisory practices employed as of October 2023. The FSAP reviewed recent developments and the structure of the Luxembourgish insurance sector. The sector is large, well developed, and highly interconnected with other insurance markets through internationally active insurance groups and cross-border business. After having grown substantially in size, it is recommended to further strengthen the Commissariat aux Assurances’s (CAA) independence and its internal governance. The CAA’s staff has roughly doubled since the last FSAP but should be constantly reviewed with further expanding tasks. The authority’s independence could be further strengthened by safeguarding the independence of its Board members and narrowing down in the Insurance Act the reasons on which the CAA’s Directorate could be dismissed. The governance of the CAA would benefit from setting up an internal audit function, and strengthening IT governance as projects are currently conducted largely in-house.