Country Reports
2024
September 11, 2024
Kingdom of Lesotho: 2024 Article IV Consultation—Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Kingdom of Lesotho
Description: The 2024 Article IV Consultation discusses that Lesotho’s gross domestic product growth has improved modestly, picking up to 2.2 percent in the fiscal year ending in March 2024. Inflation increased in the second half of 2023, peaking at 8.2 percent in January 2024. However, upward pressures have eased, and inflation has since fallen to 6.5 percent in June. The outlook for Lesotho’s fiscal and external balances has improved significantly owing to windfall transfers from the Southern African Customs Union and renegotiated water royalties. Key recommendations include swiftly establishing a well-governed savings framework (stabilization fund) to ensure that additional revenues are saved wisely and spent strategically, in line with the authorities’ national development goals. To this end, the authorities are encouraged to prioritize high-quality public investment, strengthen internal controls to ensure transparency and accountability, and address governance and corruption vulnerabilities. Accompanying recommendations include: enhancing public financial management, improving the business environment, and increasing financial inclusion.
September 11, 2024
Uganda: 2024 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Uganda
Description: The 2024 Article IV Consultation highlights that Uganda has navigated the post pandemic recovery well due to sound macroeconomic policies. The economic recovery is strengthening with low inflation, favorable agricultural production, and strong industrial and services activity. While public debt is sustainable, low tax revenues constrain Uganda’s fiscal policy space. Strengthening domestic revenue mobilization and budgetary and cash management practices are key to securing a durable fiscal space. The Bank of Uganda’s tight monetary policy stance has helped anchor inflation expectations and counter external sector pressures. Going forward, monetary policy should remain data driven to ensure price stability and further financial deepening. Continued flexibility of the exchange rate is important to build up adequate foreign exchange reserves. Uganda should continue its efforts to create fiscal space through revenue mobilization and better expenditure discipline, vigilant monetary policy, and exchange rate flexibility, using future oil revenue to address growth impediments and improve social development while advancing governance reform and financial inclusion. Addressing governance deficiencies and regulatory burdens and enhancing regional trade integration are critical to unlocking Uganda’s growth potential.
September 10, 2024
Botswana: 2024 Article IV Consultation-Press Release and Staff Report
Description: The 2024 Article IV Consultation discusses that Botswana’s economic growth is expected to slow to 1 percent in 2024 primarily because of a diamond market contraction, before picking up next year. Inflation has declined sharply since the peak of mid-2022 and returned to the central bank’s medium-term objective range of 3–6 percent, where it is expected to remain in the medium term. Some fiscal relaxation is warranted this year given the fall in mineral revenues, but the ambitious capital budget should be streamlined to contain the deterioration of the deficit and prioritize projects with the highest value for money. The monetary policy stance is appropriate, but monetary policy transmission remains limited, requiring further deepening of the interbank, credit, and government bond markets along the transmission chain. Reducing inequality and unemployment requires a more job-intensive, private sector-led, and export-oriented growth model. Reform of state-owned enterprises, improved infrastructure for doing business (internet, energy, and logistics), trade facilitation measures, and a more efficient social protection system should be prioritized.
September 10, 2024
Botswana: Selected Issues
Description: This Selected Issues paper discusses the rationale for and design of a new Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) in Botswana. It reviews the causes of declining financial reserves and calculates fiscal targets that would be needed to achieve insurance and intergenerational equity objectives. While debt ratios have been steady, the government has financed these deficits by drawing down its assets. Intergenerational equity may be better served by creating financial assets, rather than through investment spending, although the two are not mutually exclusive. Botswana has tended to allocate resource revenues primarily to physical and human investment. Before discussing SWF design, it is important to consider the level of savings that the government requires to achieve its policy objectives. There are many reasons why a government may want to generate savings and manage them in a SWF. IMF concludes that a SWF could provide a useful institutional framework to support rebuilding buffers, but achieving significant savings to meaningfully fund an SWF would require much tighter fiscal policy than has been observed in recent years.
September 5, 2024
Republic of Latvia: 2024 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; and Staff Report
Description: The 2024 Article IV Consultation highlights that the Latvian economy contracted with significant disinflation. Amid high uncertainty, growth is projected to rebound, but risks are tilted to the downside. Considering the improving outlook, the IMF Staff recommends a less expansionary, neutral fiscal stance for 2024 and a tighter fiscal stance in 2025. Although Latvia has some fiscal space, structural fiscal measures are needed to provide buffers for medium to long term spending pressures. Although the financial sector has so far been resilient, continued monitoring of macrofinancial vulnerabilities and spillovers is warranted. While the current macroprudential policy stance is broadly appropriate, the recent adjustment to the borrower-based measures for energy-efficient housing loans should be reconsidered. The overall policy stance strikes the right balance between maintaining financial stability and the need to extend credit to the economy. However, borrower-based macroprudential measures should be relaxed only when their presence is overly stringent from the financial stability perspective.
September 5, 2024
Republic of Latvia: Selected Issues
Description: This paper assesses recent developments in Latvia’s competitiveness and productivity in the context of Baltic economies. Latvia’s export market share has declined in recent years reflecting weakening external demand and the effects of EU trade sanctions, but only limited loss of competitiveness. Latvia faces weakening competitiveness. Latvia’s real effective exchange rate appreciation in recent years has been greater than that implied by its productivity trend, so the economy faces a narrowing competitiveness buffer. Latvia’s total factor productivity growth boost post-global financial crisis is unlikely to be sustained without structural reforms and efforts to increase capital investment. A decade-long weak investment, large infrastructure gaps, aging and emigration, and insufficient accumulation in skills weigh on Latvia’s productivity growth and competitiveness. These also pose risks that Lavia could be caught in a middle-income trap with low growth and slow convergence to euro area income level. Therefore, Latvia requires significantly higher investment for sustained convergence. In order to preserve Latvia’s competitiveness and build more resilience against future shocks, it is key to promote productivity growth via structural reforms and capital investment. Boosting productivity is also needed to meet challenges presented from Russia’s war in Ukraine and the ongoing transitions to sustain income convergence.
September 4, 2024
Saudi Arabia: Financial Sector Assessment Program-Financial System Stability Assessment
Description: 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.
September 4, 2024
South Africa: Post-Financing Assessment-Press Release; and Staff Report
Description: 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.
September 4, 2024
Saudi Arabia: Financial Sector Assessment Program-Detailed Assessment of Observance-Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision
Description: This paper discusses Detailed Assessment of Observance of the Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision for the Saudi Arabia Financial Sector Assessment Program. Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) has progressively updated its regulations and continued focus on this process will be important. SAMA’s responsibility for banking supervision is clearly set out in the law, although without clearly establishing the promotion of safety and soundness of banks and the banking system as an explicit or primary mandate. There is room to strengthen SAMA’s operational independence, accountability framework, transparency, and legal protection. Strengthening powers and updating regulations, along with developing internal guidelines, will help strengthen processes for licensing, transfer of significant ownership and controlling interest, and major acquisitions by banks. SAMA’s well-established risk-based approach would benefit from a review of the scope of application of supervisory oversight, tools, and reporting. Prudential requirements mostly apply (appropriately) at both a solo and consolidated level, but monitoring is in practice only at the domestic level.
September 4, 2024
Saudi Arabia: 2024 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; and Staff Report
Description: Saudi Arabia’s unprecedented economic transformation is progressing well. Strong domestic demand is keeping non-oil growth robust while unemployment is at record lows. Inflation is contained and the current account surplus is rapidly narrowing. The recalibration of the authorities’ investment plans would help reduce overheating risks and pressures on fiscal and external accounts.