Mid- to senior-level officials in central banks, ministries of finance, and regulatory agencies involved in the formulation and implementation of macroeconomic and financial policies.

Participants should have an advanced degree in economics or equivalent experience.

This two-week course, presented by the IMF’s Institute for Capacity Development, examines the policy dilemmas confronting authorities in developing and emerging market economies, and the options available to policymakers, with special attention to how financial sector issues interact with macroeconomic management. The course covers a number of key macroeconomic topics, such as stabilization and growth, fiscal and external debt sustainability, frameworks for monetary policy, choice of the exchange rate regime, and international capital flows. It also addresses financial sector topics, such as the role of financial sector in the economy, the relationship between financial fragility and macroeconomic stability, financial sector policies, and policies to address financial crisis. The course content is differentiated to better address issues relevant to different regions.

Participants are expected to engage in discussions throughout the course and are divided into small groups, under the direction of counselors, to conduct workshop exercises aimed at solidifying their understanding of the lecture materials. Participants may also be asked to make presentations on key policy issues of interest in their countries.

Officials involved in financial regulation or financial stability analysis from central banks or ministries of finance. Qualifications: Participants are expected to have an advanced degree in economics finance or equivalent experience.

The one-week course, presented by the IMF’s Monetary and Capital Markets Department, is designed for central bankers and financial regulators to provide up-to-date information on the identification of risks that can threaten the stability of the financial system, and approached to mitigating these risks. The course draws on the lessons, and the international policy and regulatory responses to the recent financial crisis.
The topics covered include:

• role, objectives and lessons for the design of financial stability analysis and macro-prudential policy in light of the recent financial crisis;
• quantitative techniques for the identification and assessment of macro-financial and systemic risks: modeling systemic default and liquidity risk, contingent claims analysis (CCA) and systemic CCA with applications, comparison of systemic risk modeling and how the models are related to each other, and interaction of financial sector and sovereign risk;
• design financial stability reports and communication strategies;
• approaches to mitigating systemic risks, including international regulatory initiatives on systemic risk charges, extending the perimeter of regulation, and the design of crisis management arrangements; and
• Institutional arrangements, including the role of systemic risk regulators, and cross-border and international collaboration.

In addition to a series of lectures, participants of the course will be invited to share relevant national experiences in addressing the above topics.

Central Bank officials responsible for the compilation of monetary and financial statistics.

Participants should have a degree in economics, statistics or equivalent experience.

This two-week course, presented by the IMF’s Statistics Department, is designed to assist officials in the compilation of monetary and financial statistics in accordance with international best practices. The course materials are based on the Monetary and Financial Statistics Manual and the Monetary and Financial Statistics: Compilation Guide.

The course discusses the principles of economic sectorization, the characteristics and classification of financial instruments, and valuation and other accounting issues that are relevant to the compilation of analytical accounts for the entire financial sector, comprising the central bank, other depository corporations, and other financial corporations. The course consists of lectures, workshops, and case studies that familiarize the participants with practical aspects of monetary statistics compilation, in particular with respect to the standardized report forms (SRFs) for central bank and other depository corporations. Participants are expected to make a short presentation on monetary statistics compilation issues for a depository corporation in their countries.

Officials from central banks, ministries of finance, and regulatory agencies Qualifications: Participants should have a degree in economics, statistics or equivalent experience.

Budgetary forecasting under strict data constraints: this module would discuss the practical issues involved with forecasting under limited availability and quality of data. It would then discuss how to produce the best possible forecasts under such constraints. Practical questions to answer would be: to what extent can we rely on econometric methods? How to assess the quality of a forecasting tool? When and how can we use judgment? How do we check and ensure consistency across different sets of forecasts (macro, financial, fiscal)? Ultimately, participants should be able to produce forecasts they feel comfortable with from a technical point of view.

Intra-year monitoring and reporting: This module would introduce tools for the higher-frequency (monthly, quarterly) monitoring of revenue collection and budget execution, again bearing in mind data and capacity constraints. The early detection of incipient deviations potentially requiring policy corrections would be a paramount objective of the module. We would conclude on ways how to structure monthly/quarterly notes on budget performance.

Institutional prerequisites of an effective and efficient macro-fiscal unit: This module would present and discuss best practice in institutionalizing a macro-fiscal unit providing ‘the biggest bang for the buck’. This would include a discussion of the remit of the macro-fiscal unit and the procedures required to ensure adequate data and information sharing among different departments and ministries.