2014-05- AFE Newsletter May 2014

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND
MAY 2014
East AFRITAC News
Highlights of East AFRITAC (AFE) Activities in May 2014
•
IMF’s Africa Rising Conference: The IMF’s Africa Rising Conference
was held in May 2014, in Maputo, Mozambique. The conference brought
together policymakers from Africa and beyond, the private sector, civil
society, academics, and private foundations with the goal of sustaining
current growth and sharing its benefits among Africa’s population.
•
Public Financial Management: An East AFRITAC (AFE) mission to
Malawi assisted with preparation of the PFM reform strategy and program.
A mission to Rwanda provided assistance in implementation of the budget
system improvement program. The PFM advisor conducted a study on
payment arrears, and developed a survey program to gather information on
factors that have contributed to the existing stock of arrears in Tanzania.
•
Revenue Administration: A mission was conducted to Tanzania on
strengthening the organization of domestic taxes administration. The
revenue administration advisor participated in a donors meeting on the Tax
Modernization Project in Tanzania.
•
Monetary Policy and Operations: Assistance was provided to the Reserve
Bank of Malawi in aligning foreign exchange market operations with the
liberalized foreign exchange market regime.
•
Economic and Financial Statistics: Technical assistance was provided to
Uganda on Supply and Use Tables, to Rwanda on quarterly GDP estimates,
and to Tanzania on price statistics.
•
Regional: Missions to EAC member countries assisted in developing
national plans to improve compilation and dissemination of government
finance statistics. The Center’s Banking Supervision Advisor participated in
an East African Summit on Governance, Risk and Compliance held in
Nairobi, Kenya.
•
Workshops: East AFRITAC’s macroeconomic statistics advisor
participated in the final regional workshop of the IMF-DFID Quarterly
National Accounts (QNA) project in Entebbe, Uganda. PFM and macrofiscal advisors conducted an in-country workshop in Eritrea on the MediumTerm Expenditure Framework.
•
Staffing: A new resident advisor, Mr. Amitabh Tripathi, joins the Center to
provide TA on public financial management. He will focus on the areas of
budget execution, cash management, financial reporting and internal
controls.
•
Country Corner: This features allows member countries to highlight AFE
projects in their own words. This month’s edition covers the National Bank
of Ethiopia’s (NBE) insurance supervision project that began in September
2011.
•
Forthcoming Activities and TA Dissemination: All forthcoming activities
through end-July 2014 are provided in Table 1. One new report on National
Accounts in Rwanda has been posted on AFE’s site on the IMF’s extranet.
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
IMF’S AFRICA RISING
CONFERENCE
. . . 2
ERITREA
. . .
2
MALAWI
. . . .
2
RWANDA
. . .
2
COUNTRY
CORNER
. . .
3
TANZANIA
. . .
3
UGANDA
. . .
4
REGIONAL
. . .
4
STAFFING
. . .
4
WORKSHOPS
. . .
5
FORTHCOMING
ACTIVITIES
. . .
5
TA REPORTS
. . .
7
East AFRITAC
Bank of Tanzania Building
North Tower, 10th Floor
10 Mirambo Street
Dar es Salaam
Tanzania
Tel. +255 22 223 5353
Fax: +255 22 223 4204
www.eastafritac.org
East AFRITAC News - May 2014
1
INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND
MAY 2014
IMF’s Africa Rising Conference
Over May 29-30, the Government of Mozambique
and the IMF convened a high-level conference to take
stock of Africa’s strong economic performance, its
increased resilience to shocks, and key ongoing
economic policy challenges. The event followed up on
the 2009 Tanzania Conference, which helped
galvanize international support for Africa after the
2008 financial crisis. The conference brought together
policymakers from Africa and beyond, the private
sector, civil society, academics, and private
foundations with the goal of sustaining the current
growth and sharing its benefits among Africa
population. The topics discussed included: inclusive
growth, how to harness the wealth stemming from
Africa’s natural resources; closing the region’s
infrastructure gap; creating an enabling environment
for a dynamic business sector and job creation; how to
deepen financial markets and broaden access to
finance in the region; strengthening economic stability
and overcome sociopolitical and institutional
weaknesses in fragile states; and translating economic
growth into poverty reduction. (See: http://
www.africa-rising.org/)
(L-R) IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde with
Mozambican Finance Minister Manuel Chang.
Eritrea
Public Financial Management: From May 5-9,
2014, PFM and macro-fiscal advisors conducted an
in-country workshop for officials from the Ministry
of Finance and the National Bank of Eritrea (NBE)
on the Medium Term Budgeting Framework
(MTBF). Thirty-five participants attended mainly
from the Finance Ministry, including the Director
Generals of Budget, Treasury and Administration.
The workshop was structured around four broad
themes: (i) medium term budgeting–the conceptual
framework; (ii) the prerequisites for a successful
MTBF; (iii) the macroeconomic sectors–how they fit
together; and (iv) achieving economic objectives–
reducing poverty and promoting growth. The
workshop was well received by participants who
viewed it as a valuable learning platform.
East AFRITAC News - May 2014
Eritrean Participants at the Medium Term Budgeting
Framework Workshop, along with the East AFRITAC’s Advisors,
May 5-9, 2014, Asmara, Eritrea.
Malawi
Public Financial Management: East AFRITAC’s
short term expert provided guidance on preparation of
a PFM reform strategy and program to Malawi from
April 28-May 16, 2014. This assignment followed on
from a March 2014 FAD-led mission on PFM reform
priorities. It has sought to build on the program of
corrective actions undertaken in response to the
“cashgate” events by developing a prioritized PFM
reform strategy. A draft strategy has been prepared. It
aims to address the underlying weaknesses in the
PFM framework, define the PFM priorities for the
next three years and restore stakeholder confidence in
the government’s financial management systems and
practices. Further AFE missions will assist in
finalizing the strategy and its implementation.
Monetary Policy and Operations: From April 29May 9, 2014, an AFE mission assisted the Reserve
Bank of Malawi (RBM) in aligning foreign exchange
market operations with the liberalized foreign
exchange regime. Price discovery remains a
challenge, the interbank market remained inactive,
and there were residual exchange controls on travel
and prepayments for imports. The mission provided
guidance on supporting the price discovery process,
introduction of a market initiated cap on the
inordinately high bid and offer spreads in the
interbank market and RBM intervention at market
quotes. The mission also addressed strengthening
internal capacity for intervention operations including
collection and utilization of market intelligence,
market analysis, and communication and integration
of foreign exchange market operations in the conduct
of overall monetary operations.
Rwanda
Public Financial Management: Rwanda is
implementing a Budget System Improvement
Program (BSIP) which aims at making the budget a
more effective instrument of economic policy. The
BSIP’s objectives include: (i) improving the program
structure of the budget and its costing; (ii)
2
INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND
MAY 2014
Country Corner
Ethiopia: East AFRITAC’s TA on Insurance Supervision
In tandem with the changing socio-economic structure of the nation, particularly in the recent past few years, the
Ethiopian insurance sector has been registering continuous growth in assets, capital, reserves, premium
production as well as profitability. The market is endowed with current and future enormous potential for growth.
Reinsurance and micro insurance sectors are emerging. To maintain the safety and soundness of the sector, protect
consumers’ interest and ensure stability, strengthening the regulatory and supervisory framework and practices are
undoubtedly essential.
Bearing this in mind, the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), the regulatory body, kicked off a technical assistance
(TA) program on “Strengthening the Solvency Framework for Insurers in Ethiopia” under the auspices of
East AFRITAC. The missions started in September 2011 and have continued. Towards achieving this objective,
the consultant appointed by East AFRITAC reviewed the overall regulatory and supervisory system, explored
market issues, objectively identified the gaps that need to be addressed and then provided training on product
development and pricing, valuation of liabilities, reinsurance, life insurance and actuarial reserves, capital
adequacy and solvency, risk based supervision together with risk assessment and evaluation and others. The
consultant also reviewed drafted directives on reinsurance operation of insurers, return forms, capital adequacy
and solvency margin. These were redrafted and are ready to be issued shortly. On the grounds of the foregoing,
we can fairly say that the project has met its objective, enhanced the capacity of the insurance regulatory body,
and practically strengthened the solvency framework for Ethiopia.
The need to continue with the project is essential from two strategic perspectives. First, as an emerging market,
the insurance sector in Ethiopia has a number of development, regulatory and supervisory issues that ought to be
harnessed. Second, it is useful to learn how other countries are progressing in market development and regulatory
and supervisory dynamism. We have strong conviction that the project would create an opportunity for us to know
and react. Strengthening and reviewing the entire system of risk based supervision and putting in place new
procedure manuals, formulating a strategic framework for the development of life insurance, the regulation and
supervision of reinsurance companies, stress testing and crisis management are among the immediate TA needs of
the NBE.
Finally, hoping the partnership would carry on, the NBE with due respect and sincerity thanks East AFRITAC for
the continued support it has been extending to us and congratulate for the success it has been achieving. We also
strongly propose the scaling up of the mission towards creating and working for regional ties and development in
the field of insurance.
Source: National Bank of Ethiopia
strengthening the medium term expenditure
framework (MTEF); and (iii) meeting new output/
outcome based reporting requirements. A mission
from May 12-21, 2014, continued AFE’s assistance
towards achieving these objectives. To this end, it
proposed ways to tighten the links between programs
and national/sector strategies whilst also
modernizing the budget presentation with a simple,
focused and consolidated program template. This
would enhance the prioritization and decision
making processes by gathering relevant information
in a single document. Implementation of the BSIP
remains work-in-progress which AFE will continue
to support. The next PFM mission will concentrate
on reviewing another challenging area, namely the
capital budgeting framework.
Economic and Financial Statistics: During May
5-23, 2014, assistance was provided to the National
Institute of Statistics of Rwanda in finalizing for
East AFRITAC News - May 2014
dissemination, the rebased GDP estimates at current
and constant prices. The annual and quarterly GDP
compilation systems were updated to take account of
the new benchmark estimates from the 2011 Supply
and Use Tables (SUT). New methods were introduced
and the major systems used for processing the data
inputs required for estimation of GDP (including
consumer prices, trade in goods, and value-added tax
and income tax data) were all upgraded and their
outputs integrated into the GDP processing system.
The revised GDP estimates are expected to be
released on June 17, 2014.
Tanzania
Public Financial Management: As one element
towards a study on the prevention and management of
payments arrears, from April 28-May 9, 2014, AFE
has drafted a survey program to be applied at a
3
INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND
representative set of government spending units. The
program seeks to test the reliability of current
reporting on payment arrears as well as to gather
information on factors that have contributed to the
existing stock of arrears. Follow on assistance will be
provided over the next months to guide the survey
teams and then to draw on the results to propose
measures for preventing further accumulation of
arrears and for clearing the existing stock.
Revenue Administration: A mission to Tanzania
from April 30-May 13, 2014, provided the Tanzania
Revenue Authority (TRA) with technical assistance to
strengthen the organization of domestic tax
administration. The mission noted progress made by
the TRA in re-organizing domestic tax administration
based on advice provided by the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs
Department. The focus of the mission was to provide
guidance to the TRA on: (i) creating a single domestic
tax administration; and (ii) building an effective
domestic tax headquarters function. The mission
developed a structure for a single domestic tax
administration and a headquarters function and
provided role descriptions for key jobs under the
proposed structure.
On May 22, 2014, the revenue advisor participated in
the 14th meeting of the Tax Modernization Project that
was also attended by various donor organizations
(DANIDA, DfID, the Norwegian Government, IFC
and the US Treasury). The meeting also included
participants from the Zanzibar Revenue Board, who
sought financial assistance from donors towards their
third corporate plan. The meeting reviewed the status
of implementation of the corporate plan, budget
utilization and status of technical assistance. All
donors re-affirmed their financial commitments.
Economic and Financial Statistics: Price statistics
missions to Tanzania (mainland and Zanzibar) during
May 12-30, 2014 assisted with finalizing the export
and import price indices, and producer price index for
dissemination. A number of methodologies for further
improving the indices were discussed, including
rebasing, review and maintenance of the samples,
splicing new products, quality adjustment, index
scope and output editing. Publication manuscripts
have been readied for the dissemination of these
prices statistics during mid-to-late June 2014.
Uganda
Economic and Financial Statistics: Over May
5-23, 2014, AFE’s macroeconomic statistics advisor
assisted the Uganda Bureau of Statistics in
reviewing and finalizing the 2009/10 SUT and
rebased annual and quarterly GDP estimates. The
source data for the SUT are more comprehensive in
coverage than the data that was available to compile
the previous 2002 benchmark estimates (e.g., there
East AFRITAC News - May 2014
MAY 2014
was previously no data for non-profit institutions or
informal sector cross-border trade, and limited
agriculture and informal sector data). The data
quality of the source data for the current SUT is
also better. The new benchmark estimates were
included in the compilation worksheets and further
advice was provided on improving the indicators
and input data to be used to compile the quarterly
and annual current and constant 2009/10 price
GDP estimates. The Bureau expects to disseminate
the rebased GDP estimates in September 2014.
Regional
Financial Sector Regulation and Supervision: On
May 2, 2014 AFE’s Banking Supervision Advisor
participated in the East African Summit on
Governance, Risk and Compliance organized by the
Capital Markets Authority of Kenya in cooperation
with Thomson Reuters. The Advisor participated in a
panel session discussing the regional status and
developments with regard to the implementation of
the Basel II and III framework.
Government Finance Statistics: Missions to EAC
member countries during April 7-May 9, 2014,
assisted in developing national plans to improve
compilation and dissemination of Government
Finance Statistics (GFS) in line with international
standards to achieve the fiscal data requirements
associated with the convergence criteria under the
East African Monetary Union Protocol. The plans
seek a gradual improvement in: (i) sector coverage to
include the extra-budgetary, local government, and
social security funds sub-sectors; (ii) data frequency
to produce monthly and quarterly GFS; and (iii)
compilation and dissemination of balance sheet data.
National GFS technical working groups will be
invited to a joint EAC/East AFRITAC workshop in
Arusha, Tanzania in August 2014 to present their
finalized GFSM 2001/14 implementation plans. The
workshop will also discuss a tentative TA work
program designed to support these plans.
Staffing
A new PFM advisor, Mr. Amitabh
Tripathi, joined East AFRITAC in
May 2014. Mr. Tripathi has over
twenty years of experience in public
financial management. In India, he
has worked with different
departments of the Ministry of
Finance where he has been closely
associated with budget formulation
and execution, accounting, financial reporting and
internal audit. During 2006-08, Mr. Tripathi worked
as PFM Advisor in Liberia, providing technical
assistance to the Ministry of Finance and delivering
4
INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND
MAY 2014
financial management capacity building programs
across line ministries of the Government of Liberia.
In Lesotho, he assisted the Ministry of Finance
(working with AFRITAC South) in developing the
PFM reform strategy and provided guidance on
formulation of an action plan. He will be working in
areas of budget execution, cash management,
financial reporting and internal controls.
Workshops
Economic and Financial Statistics: During May
26-30, 2014, AFE’s macroeconomic statistics advisor,
along with officials from Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda,
Tanzania (mainland and Zanzibar) and Uganda,
participated in the final regional workshop of the
IMF-DFID Quarterly National Accounts (QNA)
project in Entebbe, Uganda. The main purpose of the
workshop was to assess the progress made by
participating countries over the last four years in
improving the quality and range of the QNA
produced. In addition to data quality improvements, it
is expected that all AFE participant countries will be
disseminating quarterly current and constant price
estimates of GDP by production approach by
September 2014. The project has been successful in
assisting countries in improving the quality of the
quarterly GDP at constant prices, developing
quarterly GDP at current prices and improving
consistency with international standards.
Table 1. East AFRITAC: Forthcoming Activities in June and July 2014
AFE Activities Expected in June and July 2014
Public Financial Management
TA Missions
Country
Subject
Tanzania
Consolidating Program Based
Budgeting
Uganda
Reforming the Performance
Budgeting System
Kenya
Program Design Improvement
Date
June 2-13, 2014
Expert(s)
Tawfik Ramtoolah (LTX)
June 30-July 11, 2014
Tawfik Ramtoolah (LTX)
July 14-25, 2014
Tawfik Ramtoolah (LTX)
Johan Mathisen (LTX)
Guy Anderson (LTX)
Tanzania
Study on Payment Arrears – Conduct July 2014 (TBD)
Survey and Analyze Results
Malawi
Finalization of PFM program
June 2014 (TBD)
Revenue Administration
TA Missions
Country
Subject
Date
Kenya
Developing a Compliance Risk
June 23-July 4, 2014
Management Strategy
Rwanda
Consolidating Risk Management
July 15-25, 2014
Practices in Customs Anchored on an
Effective National Targeting
Capacity
Rwanda
Establishing a Corporate Risk
July 15-25, 2014
Management Department
Macro-Fiscal Analysis
Workshops
Location
Subject
Date
Mauritius
Macro- Fiscal Modeling and
July 1-11, 2014
Analysis
Rwanda
Macroeconomic Diagnostics
July 14-25, 2014
Rwanda
Management of Foreign Exchange
Reserves
July 8-12, 2014
East AFRITAC News - May 2014
Guy Anderson (STX)
Expert(s)
Michael Smithson (STX)
Bruce Irving (STX)
Don McPartland (STX)
Expert(s)
Fabio Comelli (IMF HQ)
Jaromir Hurnik (ATI)
Boaz Nandwa (ATI)
Fazeer Sheik Rahim (LTX)
Fazeer Sheik Rahim (LTX)
Jules Leichter (STX)
Bertrand Candelon (STX)
Elias Kasozi (LTX)
Sylvain Choquette (STX)
5
INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND
Financial Sector Regulation and Supervision
TA Missions
Country
Subject
Uganda
Market and Country and Transfer
Risk
Malawi
AML/CFT Risk Assessment
MAY 2014
Date
June 2-13, 2014
Expert(s)
Dirk Jan Grolleman (LTX)
Paul Baneke (STX)
June 15-26, 2014
Dirk Jan Grolleman (LTX)
Ian Carrington (IMF HQ),
Rebecca Obare (IMF HQ)
June 28-August 8, 2014 Dirk Jan Grolleman (LTX)
Jan Rein Pruntel (STX)
Kenya
ICAAP Mission
Attachment
Host Country
Subject
Date
Beneficiary
Malawi
AML/CFT Supervision
June 23-July 11, 2014
Two Officers of the Bank of Uganda
Monetary Policy and Operations
TA Missions
Country
Subject
Date
Expert(s)
Rwanda
Management of Foreign Exchange
Reserves
Government Finance Statistics
TA Missions
Country
Subject
July 8-12, 2014
Elias Kasozi (LTX)
Sylvain Choquette (STX)
Date
Expert(s)
Uganda
GFS Compilation, Dissemination
and Training
July 8-18, 2014
Johan Mathisen (LTX)
Brooks Robinson (STX)
Rwanda
GFS Compilation, Dissemination
and Training
July 14-24, 2014
Johan Mathisen (LTX)
Ismael A. Zarco (STX)
Scheduling of Implementation of
GFS TA Recommendations and
Dissemination
Burundi
GFS Compilation, Dissemination
and Training
Economic and Financial Statistics
TA Missions
Country
Subject
July 21-25, 2014
Brooks Robinson (STX)
Ethiopia
National Accounts Statistics
June 23-July 04, 2014 Mr. Robin Youll (STX)
Uganda
Price Statistics
June 30-July 18, 2014 David Collins (STX)
Tanzania
National Accounts Statistics
July 23-29, 2014
Zia Abbasi (LTX)
Workshops
Location
Subject
Date
Expert(s)
United States
IMF Statistics Advisors Workshop
June 09-06, 2014
Zia Abbasi (LTX)
Tanzania
EAC National Accounts
Harmonization
June 23-27, 2014
Zia Abbasi (LTX)
Kenya
East AFRITAC News - May 2014
July 21-August 1, 2014 Vincent Marie (STX)
Date
Expert(s)
6
INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND
MAY 2014
East AFRITAC’s Technical Assistance Reports Posted on East AFRITAC’s Site on the
IMF’s Extranet
One new report has been posted this month, access to which is available to Steering Committee members that have
signed confidentiality agreements:
National Account Statistics Mission to Rwanda from February 17-March 5, 2014.
East AFRITAC
Member Countries
• Eritrea
• Ethiopia
• Kenya
• Malawi
• Rwanda
• Tanzania
• Uganda
• European Investment Bank
• Germany
• The Netherlands
• Switzerland
• Elias Kasozi, Monetary Operations
• Zia Abbasi, Macroeconomic Statistics
• The United Kingdom
Economist
Staff
Center Coordinator
• Sukhwinder Singh
Advisors
External Donors
• African Development Bank
• Australia
• Canada
• The European Union
East AFRITAC News - May 2014
• Muyangwa Muyangwa, Revenue Administration
• Guy Anderson, Public Financial Management
• Tawfik Ramtoolah, Public Financial Management
• Johan Mathisen, Government Finance
Statistics
• Angela Abayo
Office Manager
• Edina Moshi
Administrative Staff
• Sabah Abdulrahman
• Diana Makiko
• Evonne Massawe , IT Officer
• Amitabh Tripathi, Public Financial Management
• Fazeer Rahim, Macro-Fiscal Analysis
• Dirk Grolleman, Financial Sector
7

Download Report