Colombia: Staff Statement
April 18, 2025
IMF Statement on Mozambique
April 18, 2025
The Case for Health Taxes
April 18, 2025
IMF Staff Completes 2025 Article IV Mission to Nigeria
April 18, 2025
Enhancing Governance in Niger: Progress, Challenges, and Policy Priorities
April 18, 2025
Niger, a low-income and conflict-affected state, faces significant governance challenges that hinder economic development. The military takeover in 2023 has altered the governance landscape, resulting in concerning trends such as the suspension of the Constitution and the dissolution of the Supreme Audit Institution. These changes have negatively impacted public procurement transparency, especially in defense
spending. Despite these setbacks, the new authorities express a commitment to improving governance, a key element of their development strategy. This paper reviews recent governance and anti-corruption developments in Niger, emphasizing the need for ongoing efforts to strengthen governance and uphold the rule of law.
Tax Potential and Revenue Mobilization in Niger: Niger
April 18, 2025
Niger faces significant challenges to mobilize revenue, with one of the lowest tax revenue to GDP ratios in the region. This paper estimates the tax revenue gap, which reflects the difference between the actual and the potential tax revenue given economic and institutional context. The tax revenue gap reached 3.4 percent of GDP in 2022 due to gaps in the collection of taxes on goods and services, and international trade taxes. To enhance revenue mobilization, it is essential to rationalize VAT exemptions and the reduced rates on specific products, reform excise and property taxes, and strengthen tax administration.
Estimating Potential Output in Niger: Niger
April 18, 2025
Potential growth in Niger is estimated at around 6 percent with a structurally significant contribution of labor and peaks of growth associated with higher investment in physical capital. Growth in Niger is, however, constrained by weak productivity, limited structural transformation, and inadequate economic diversification, with downside risks stemming mainly from regional insecurity and adverse climate shocks. Key factors that could boost economic growth in Niger include investment in human capital, the development of the extractive sector and agro-industrial value chains and the diffusion of digital technologies.
St. Lucia: Technical Assistance Report-Report on External Sector Statistics Mission (October 28–November 1, 2024)
April 18, 2025
As part of the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC) work program on External Sector Statistics (ESS) a technical assistance (TA) mission was conducted to the Central Statistics Office (CSO) of Saint Lucia during October 28–November 1, 2024. The mission focused on data collection issues related to the Citizenship by Investment Program (CIP), and the work program to improve estimates for trade in goods, travel exports, and direct investment.
Brazil: Technical Assistance Report-Report on Government Finance and Public Sector Debt Statistics Mission (August 5–16, 2024)
April 18, 2025
This technical assistance (TA) mission on Government Finance Statistics (GFS) and Public Sector Debt Statistics (PSDS) was conducted in Brazil during August 5–16, 2024. The primary objective of the mission was to assist the authorities in their efforts to enhance data quality and strengthen the compilation and dissemination of fiscal and public debt data for analysis and decision-making, in line with internationally comparable best practices and standards. In addition, the mission reviewed the progress made by the authorities in implementing previous TA recommendations and assisted in developing a proposed five-year work program (2024–2029) aimed at strengthening Brazil’s fiscal statistics and establishing the necessary conditions for their adoption as official statistics for policy purposes.
IMF Committee on Balance of Payments Statistics 2024 Annual Report
April 18, 2025
The 2024 Annual Report of the IMF Committee on Balance of Payments Statistics (the
Committee) provides an overview of recent trends in global balance of payments and
international investment position statistics on selected components, particularly cross-border
trade, travel, transport, and financial flows. The Report also summarizes the Committee’s work and presents the work program for the coming year.