Country Reports
2023
February 7, 2023
Haiti: Request for the Disbursement Under the Credit Facility-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Haiti
Description: Haiti has been hit hard by the global food price shock. In September 2022, food inflation reached 44 percent, with rice inflation nearly 70 percent. With more than half the population already below the poverty line, Haiti faces a dire humanitarian crisis, with an expected financing gap in FY2023 of at least US$105 million (0.5 percent of GDP), assuming import compression and pending additional external financing from development partners. This shock compounds the hardships of an already highly fragile country—also suffering a public health emergency (cholera) and serious security risks. In line with global trends and also due to an escalation of violence, the macroeconomic situation has been more challenging relative to the outlook in June 2022, at the time of the approval of the Staff Monitored Program (SMP). That said, recent data suggest that the authorities are making meaningful efforts to overcome the multiple challenges facing the country and the First Review of the SMP was approved by IMF Management on December 21, 2022.
February 3, 2023
Iraq: 2022 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; and Staff Report
Description: Significant socio-economic fragilities continue to persist. The formation of a new government in October 2022 provides an opportunity to rekindle the reform momentum, which has been stalled for over a year amid political uncertainty. The economy has been gradually recovering, supported by strong oil revenues and accommodative policies. Inflation has been relatively contained as the pass-through from high global commodity prices has been muted by food and fuel subsidies. Despite fiscal and external current account surpluses, Iraq’s dependence on oil and vulnerability to future oil price volatility continued to increase.
February 3, 2023
Republic of Iraq: Technical Assistance Report on Government Finance Statistics (December 5-19, 2021)
Description: This technical assistance (TA) mission on Government Finance Statistics (GFS) was conducted during December 5-19, 2021. The main purpose of the mission was to support the Budget, Public Accounting and Debt Departments in enhancing budget preparation and reporting in line with the Government Finance Statistics Manual 2014 (GFSM 2014) framework and its integration in the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS).
February 3, 2023
Islamic Republic of Mauritania: 2022 Article IV Consultation and Request for 42-Month Arrangements under the Extended Credit Facility and the Extended Fund Facility-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for the Islamic Republic of Mauritania
Description: Volatile commodity prices and a tightly managed exchange rate (ER) have led to boom and bust cycles with significant impacts on the public and financial sectors. While the previous Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement (December 2017—March 2021) has helped maintain macroeconomic stability, the pandemic has delayed structural reform implementation and widened the gap to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition, surging international commodity prices since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine have deteriorated the external and fiscal balances and led to inflationary pressures and food insecurity. In March 2021, the authorities requested a successor arrangement to support accelerated implementation of their national development strategy, help increase social and infrastructure spending, and improve governance and the business environment.
February 3, 2023
Hungary: 2022 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Hungary
Description: While the economy was recovering from the COVID-crisis, a succession of shocks and loose fiscal policy intensified inflation and fueled a large external deficit. Appropriately, the central bank significantly tightened monetary policy and the government plans a large fiscal adjustment. However, regulatory measures undermine the tighter fiscal and monetary policy mix. Growth is expected to slow sharply with still-elevated inflation and sizable risks can worsen the outlook.
February 3, 2023
People’s Republic of China: 2022 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for the People’s Republic of China
Description: Following an impressive recovery from the initial impact of the pandemic, China’s growth has slowed significantly in 2022. It remains under pressure as more transmissible variants have led to recurring outbreaks that have dampened mobility, the real estate crisis remains unresolved, and global demand has slowed. Macroeconomic policies have been eased appropriately, but their effectiveness has been diminished by a focus on enterprises and increasingly less effective traditional infrastructure investment rather than support to households. The pandemic and its impacts have also been a setback to economic rebalancing toward private consumption and to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A slowdown in growth-enhancing reforms against the backdrop of increasing geoeconomic fragmentation pressures stand in the way of a much-needed lift to productivity growth, weighing on China’s medium-term growth potential.