Country Reports
2024
March 5, 2024
Botswana: Financial Sector Assessment Program-Technical Note on Stress Testing and Systemic Risk Analysis for Insurers and Retirement Funds
Description: The FSAP mission conducted a risk analysis for large insurance companies and retirement funds. Building on the narrative of the adverse macrofinancial scenario also used in the banking ST, the focus of the analysis in the insurance sector was on solvency. Sensitivity analyses, e.g., interest rate and currency shocks and the default of the largest banking counterparty, complemented the analysis. For retirement funds, future pension values were modeled after a materialization of the adverse scenario in the first two years of the projection horizon. The sample comprised four life insurers, four short-term insurers and four retirement funds, with a market coverage between 80 and 95 percent in each sector. Incomplete reporting data complicated the top-down modelling, specifically with regard to the geographical breakdown of investments for insurers, and the valuation of insurance liabilities.
March 5, 2024
Botswana: Financial Sector Assessment Program-Technical Note on Assessment of Systemic Risks and Vulnerabilities for Banks
Description: Botswana is a small, open economy with a highly concentrated financial sector comprising banks and sizeable non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs). Financial institutions hold adequate capital and liquidity and show moderate profitability. The interconnectedness between banks and NBFIs, and banks’ large exposures to unsecured household debt could increase financial sector vulnerability.
March 4, 2024
Kyrgyz Republic: 2023 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Kyrgyz Republic
Description: The new trade and labor migration patterns that emerged since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine have provided an unexpected boost to growth. Tax revenue increased considerably since 2021, public debt declined below 50 percent of GDP by end-2022, and inflation while still elevated has decelerated into the single digits in 2023. The authorities should take advantage of these generally favorable macroeconomic conditions to strengthen their policy framework and advance structural reforms on multiple fronts to build resilience, support higher and more inclusive growth, and mitigate the risks from heightened global uncertainty.
March 4, 2024
Federated States of Micronesia: 2023 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Federated States of Micronesia
Description: Economic growth has been volatile since the Covid-19 pandemic, and inflation reached decade-high levels mainly due to higher prices of imported food and energy. High vulnerability to climate change is also intensifying food security concerns. Despite the weak domestic economy, the fiscal and external current accounts posted large surpluses, partly thanks to foreign grants and taxes paid by foreign firms. The high uncertainty around medium-term external financing and economic prospects diminished significantly with the signing of a new Compact of Free Association (COFA) agreement between the FSM and the United States government, which includes larger grants for the next 20 years and will enable much needed public investment and reforms. However, the agreement still needs to be ratified by the US Congress.
February 29, 2024
Republic of Kazakhstan: Financial Sector Assessment Program-Detailed Assessment of Observance of the Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision
Description: In 2019 the responsibility to supervise the financial sector of Kazakhstan was assigned to the newly established Agency for the Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM); however, ARDFM independence is not enshrined in the legislation. While ARDFM has introduced a risk-based approach and Supervisory Examination and Review Process, banks’ asset quality and related party transactions remain a source of concern, even if improving. The ARDFM present approach does not yet comply with international standards for consolidated supervision; it should hence continue with its plans to align key prudential standards with the Basel framework and extend risk management expectations across a banking group and not only at solo level.
February 27, 2024
British Virgin Islands: Detailed Assessment Report on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism
Description: This report summarizes the anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) measures in place in the Virgin Islands (VI) as at the date of the onsite visit of March 15–30, 2023. It analyses the level of compliance with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) 40 Recommendations and the level of effectiveness of VI’s AML/CFT system and provides recommendations on how the system could be strengthened.
February 27, 2024
Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste: 2023 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste
Description: Timor-Leste has made impressive progress since independence in 2002 but remains a fragile post-conflict nation with pressing development needs. With oil and gas production having recently come to a halt, progress on diversifying the economy and developing the private sector is urgently needed. Fiscal deficits are financed by the country’s considerable Petroleum Fund savings, but regular large withdrawals are expected to lead to its full depletion by the end of the 2030s. A new coalition government—formed following parliamentary elections in May 2023—targets higher growth and achieving fiscal sustainability.
February 22, 2024
Cameroon: Request for an Arrangement under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Cameroon
Description: Climate change presents substantial risks for Cameroon. In addition to being the largest CEMAC economy with ample economic potential and abundant natural resources, Cameroon covers large areas of the Congo Basin rainforest, the second largest in the world. At the same time, the country is a fragile and conflict affected state (FCS), with a range of fragilities, including a high vulnerability to climate change. Climate risks are intensifying in Cameroon, with temperatures progressively rising, and a projected increase in days with heavy precipitation and higher frequency of extreme weather events, such as droughts, landslides, and floods. Climate change poses an imminent threat to livelihoods and could result in significant output losses, while worsening food insecurity and conflicts, and exacerbating poverty, inequality, and population displacements. This underscores the need to strengthen the country’s preparedness and resilience to ensure that climate change impact does not jeopardize human capital accumulation or inclusive growth.