Financial Soundness Indicators (FSI) in Africa, Asia and Pacific Regions

Challenge

Many developing countries do not have consistent, standardized data to report on and assess the health and soundness of financial institutions and their counterparts, such as households and corporations. This hinders the authorities' ability to understand what policies are necessary for safeguarding financial stability to promote growth and to attract international investment, as investors use such indicators to gauge macroeconomic stability.

Approach

Using a regional approach, the IMF aided numerous countries in Africa, Asian and Pacific regions to develop financial soundness indicators (FSI) in line with international standards. Several peer-to-peer learning regional workshops — funded by the United Kingdom and Japan — helped officials become familiar with the indicators' methodology and data template. The IMF also worked with individual countries to support adoption of the indicators. Such efforts were successful even in fragile states, such as South Sudan, which helped facilitate supervision of the financial and non-financial sectors in this fledgling economy.

Impact

Many countries in Africa and the Asian and Pacific regions have since become FSI reporters (21 countries as of mid-2016), and the reported data is accessible to investors all over the world through the FSI website.