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At the request of the authorities of the Republic of Benin (“Benin”), a team consisting of multiple IMF departments (FAD, LEG and MCM) conducted a governance diagnostic mission from June 7 to September 27, 2022. In keeping with the IMF’s 2018 Framework for Enhanced Engagement on Governance, the diagnostic focused on weaknesses in governance and vulnerabilities to corruption in areas deemed to be macro-critical, including: (i) contract execution and protection of property rights; (ii) the legal and institutional framework for anti-corruption efforts; (iii) Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT); (iv) financial sector supervision; and (v) public finance governance (tax policy, tax and customs administration, public financial management).
This paper provides detailed assessment of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community's (CEMAC’s) financial system. Over the past decade, primarily as a result of high oil prices, CEMAC achieved robust economic growth, although lower than the SSA average, but insufficient to significantly reduce poverty. A poor business climate and weak governance are hampering financial sector development and its contribution to financing investments. The weakness of regional integration also limits the growth potential. The drop in oil prices by about 60 percent between June 2014 and January 2015 has had a large impact on CEMAC countries’ macroeconomic performance.
This Selected Issues paper on West African Economic and Monetary Union presents external stability assessment report. The current account deficit declined in 2014. Although gross international reserve coverage has increased slightly, part of the current account deficit has been financed by a decline in commercial banks’ net foreign assets. Contingent on the implementation of government’s consolidation plans, and helped by a favorable oil price outlook, the current account deficit would further gradually decline and be matched by enough financial inflows in the medium term. According to various metrics, the real exchange rate appears to be broadly aligned with fundamentals. International reserve coverage should increase to provide stronger buffers against immediate short-term risks. Structural competitiveness and investment efficiency improvements will be essential to ensure that the planned large investment programs translate into growth and export gains as well as increased private inflows into the region.
The deferred recognition of COVID-induced losses at banks in many countries has reignited the debate on regulatory forbearance. This paper presents a model where the public's own political pressure drives regulatory policy astray, because the public is poorly informed. Using probabilistic game stages, the model parameterizes how time consistent policy is. The interaction between political motivations and time consistency is novel and complex: increased policy credibility can entice the politically-motivated regulator to act in the public's best interest, or instead repel it from doing so. Considering several regulatory instruments, the paper probes the nexus of political pressure, perverse bank incentives and time inconsistent policy.
The West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) has a long and varied history, and this book examines how the WAEMU can achieve its development and stability objectives, improve the livelihood of its people, and enhance the inclusiveness of its economic growth, all while preserving its financial stability, enhancing its competitiveness, and maintaining its current fixed exchange rates.
This paper provides a proposal to incorporate the Core Principles for Islamic Finance Regulation (Banking Sector) (CPIFR) issued by the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB), as part of the standards used in assessing the banking regulatory and supervisory regimes of relevant member jurisdictions under the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) and the Reports on Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSCs). The CPIFR largely reflects the order of the Basel Core Principles on Effective Banking Supervision (BCP), with five additional principles that are specific to Islamic banking operations. Thus, for countries that have systemically significant Islamic banking sector, the assessment of the banking regulation and supervision regime of the jurisdiction would be against the CPIFR (for fully Islamic banking systems) or BCP and the five additional core principles under the CPIFR (for dual banking systems). The Fund staff is seeking the endorsement of the Executive Board on this proposal.
The Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) took place in an uncertain economic environment with tight monetary and financial conditions and elevated downside risks. The bank-dominated Spanish financial system has shown resilience against shocks and household and nonfinancial corporate sectors have continued to de-lever their balance-sheets. Nonbank financial intermediation comprises a smaller share of the financial system.
The SDN discusses the main policy issues and challenges in building an inclusive and safe Islamic finance industry, with emphasis on Islamic banking and Sukuk markets. To this end, it discuses why Islamic finance matters, taking into account its recent and prospective growth; and, its potential contributions in terms of financial inclusion, support for small- and medium-sized enterprises and investment in public infrastructure and, in principle, reduced systemic risk. It then covers a range of regulatory and other challenges, and offers policy advice, to address factors that hamper the development of the industry and, more generally, the delivery of its potential benefits. The paper covers regulatory and supervisory issues, safety nets and resolution frameworks, access to finance, Sukuk markets, and macroeconomic policies.
Developing economies can strengthen their financial systems by implementing the main elements of global regulatory reform. But to build an effective prudential framework, they may need to adapt international standards taking into account the sophistication and size of their financial institutions, the relevance of different financial operations in their market, the granularity of information available and the capacity of their supervisors. Under a proportionate application of the Basel standards, smaller institutions with less complex business models would be subject to a simpler regulatory framework that enhances the resilience of the financial sector without generating disproportionate compliance costs. This paper provides guidance on how non-Basel Committee member countries could incorporate banks’ capital and liquidity standards into their framework. It builds on the experience gained by the authors in the course of their work in providing technical assistance on—and assessing compliance with—international standards in banking supervision.
There has been a rapid expansion of pan-African banks (PABs) in recent years, with seven major PABs having a presence in at least ten African countries: three of these are headquartered in Morocco, two in Togo, and one each in Nigeria and South Africa. Additional banks, primarily from Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, have a regional presence with operations in at least five countries. PABs have a systemic presence in around 36 countries. Overall, the PABs are now much more important in Africa than the long-established European and American banks.