Narrow Your Choices

Refine By Topic

Refine By Series

Refine By Language

Refine By Date

—

Refine By IMF Taxonomy

Refine By JEL Taxonomy

Refine by LOC Taxonomy

Refine By THEMA Taxonomy

  • Print
  • Save

Africa > Malawi

You are looking at 1 - 5 of 5 items for :

  • Type: Journal Issue x
  • Notes and Manuals x
Clear All Modify Search
Cover IMF Notes
Agricultural Producer Subsidies: Navigating Challenges and Policy Considerations
David Amaglobeli
,
Todd Benson
, and
Tewodaj Mogues
The objectives underlying agricultural output subsidies can have conflicting implications for the design of subsidy programs. As they tend to affect meaningful swaths of the electorate, subsidies can also be an attractive political instrument. By artificially lowering production costs or assuring higher output prices, direct support measures can result in resource misallocation in instances where they fail to address market failures, such as imperfect information about the returns to fertilizers. Subsidies can also contribute to fertilizer overuse, harming the environment and the agricultural sector in the long term. Furthermore, agricultural production subsidies are often fiscally costly and unfavorable compared to alternative uses of public funds—both within the agricultural sector and outside it—to achieve the same ends. Various design and implementation challenges amplify the shortcomings of producer subsidy programs.
Keywords:
Agricultural subsidies; direct farmer support; payments to agricultural producers; producer subsidy; input subsidy program; IMF note 2024/002; output price subsidy; implementation challenge; Agricultural policy; Government subsidies; Agroindustries; Agricultural sector; Price incentives; Global; Sub-Saharan Africa
Cover IMF How To Notes
How to Assess the Benefits of Nonperforming Loan Disposal in Sub-Saharan Africa Using a Simple Analytical Framework
Irina Bunda
,
Luc Eyraud
, and
Zhangrui Wang
The coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, which has hit financial systems across Africa, is likely to deteriorate banks’ balance sheets. The largest threat to banks pertains to their loan portfolios, since many borrowers have faced a sharp collapse in their income, and therefore have difficulty repaying their obligations as they come due. This could lead to a sharp increase in nonperforming loans (NPLs) in the short to medium term.
Keywords:
Nonperforming loan disposal; Excel template; disposal strategy; raise capital requirement; loan portfolio; management cost; Nonperforming loans; Loans; Distressed assets; Financial statements; Collateral; Sub-Saharan Africa; Africa
Cover Staff Discussion Notes
Macro-Structural Policies and Income Inequality in Low-Income Developing Countries
Ms. Stefania Fabrizio
,
Davide Furceri
,
Mr. Rodrigo Garcia-Verdu
,
Ms. Grace B Li
,
Mrs. Sandra V Lizarazo Ruiz
,
Ms. Marina Mendes Tavares
,
Mr. Futoshi Narita
, and
Adrian Peralta
Despite sustained economic growth and rapid poverty reductions, income inequality remains stubbornly high in many low-income developing countries. This pattern is a concern as high levels of inequality can impair the sustainability of growth and macroeconomic stability, thereby also limiting countries’ ability to reach the Sustainable Development Goals. This underscores the importance of understanding how policies aimed at boosting economic growth affect income inequality. Using empirical and modeling techniques, the note confirms that macro-structural policies aimed at raising growth payoffs in low-income developing countries can have important distributional consequences, with the impact dependent on both the design of reforms and on country-specific economic characteristics. While there is no one-size-fits-all recipe, the note explores how governments can address adverse distributional consequences of reforms by designing reform packages to make pro-growth policies also more inclusive.
Keywords:
SDN; productivity; rate; revenue; Income inequality; growth; macro-structural policies; resource mobilization; infrastructure investment; financial sector reform; financial inclusion; agriculture; cash transfer program; higher-productivity sector; inequality in low-income developing countries; productivity gap; cost of capital; income fluctuation; Value-added tax; Income; Agricultural sector; Income distribution; Caribbean
Cover IMF How To Notes
How to Check Integrity of Fiscal Data
Mr. Pokar D Khemani
and
Mr. Benoit Wiest
The accuracy and reliability of government accounts and fiscal data is an issue in a number of countries, with significant and persistent discrepancies that can indicate underlying weaknesses in the country’s public financial management system. This note provides guidance on how to detect issues with data quality, perform integrity checks, and reconcile fiscal data from various sources. It discusses the importance of reconciliation to provide reasonable assurance on the quality and reliability of government fiscal data, explores the main reasons for which discrepancies may arise, and explains how to conduct quality checks. The note concludes with recommendations for country teams of concrete steps to ensure data quality.
Keywords:
FADHTN; HTN; balance; bullet; suspense account; bank account; debt; bank reconciliation; government debt; revenue code; accounting system; cash deficit; balances of suspense accounts; year-end cash balance; central bank; Government finance statistics; Fiscal accounting and reporting; Financial statistics; Budget planning and preparation; Middle East and Central Asia; Asia and Pacific; Western Hemisphere; Europe; Africa
Cover Technical Notes and Manuals
Conceptual Design: A Critical Element of a Successful Government Financial Management Information System Project
Abdul Khan
and
Mario Pessoa
This technical note describes need of conceptual design as a critical element of a government financial management information system project. Governments are increasingly turning to computerized financial management systems to help them respond to the demand for better information. This note describes the conceptual design for government financial management information systems (GFMIS), and explains why is it critical to the success of a GFMIS project. Key factors that influence the preparation of the conceptual design are discussed. The main stakeholders in the preparation of the conceptual design are also elaborated.
Keywords:
TNM; GFMIS project; agency function; business process; management framework; accounts payable; GFMIS need; implementation team; integration advisor; preparation process need; transaction processing system; framework issue; budget management framework issue; change management strategy; Budget planning and preparation; PFM information systems; Budget execution and treasury management; Fiscal accounting and reporting; Middle East