IMF Steps Up Training and Expert Advice Worldwide

IMF spending on capacity development up for fifth straight year, to $242 million

Largest share of IMF technical assistance and training went to Africa, including Ebola-afflicted countries

Free online courses boost participation by country officials and general public

The IMF Annual Report 2015—Tackling Challenges Together, covers the activities of the IMF Executive Board, management, and staff during the financial year that ran from May 1, 2014 through April 30, 2015.

IMF expert advice, or technical assistance, and training—which it calls capacity development—accounts for one quarter of the IMF’s activities. According to the report, about half of all IMF technical assistance goes to low-income developing countries, and the remaining amount to emerging market economies, with some advanced economies receiving technical assistance as well (see Chart 1).

Expertise in demand

Chief among the IMF’s areas of expertise in demand is on fiscal issues, as countries across the globe struggle to address the lasting impact of the global financial crisis. In Egypt and Tunisia, for example, the IMF provided support for public financial management, and tax and revenue administration reforms. In Angola, the IMF’s advice on fuel subsidy reform helped to devise a strategy to gradually eliminate costly, inefficient, and inequitable subsidies, and in Tanzania, help was given to preparing a fiscal and budget policy framework for the management of revenues from natural gas production. The IMF also helped Ukraine develop an institutional framework to prevent corruption.

Countries also seek IMF expertise on monetary and financial issues. For example, IMF support on banking supervision in Cambodia, Myanmar, Nepal, and the Philippines helped establish the fundamental supervisory and regulatory infrastructures to strengthen the banking system and safeguard financial stability. Other countries, including the Caribbean, Barbados, Belize, Jamaica, and Suriname, received assistance to improve the functioning of their domestic debt markets, and in central banking. More specifically, bank personnel in IMF member countries receive training to help them identify and analyze sources of risks in the financial system and take preemptive action to address them. The ultimate goal is to strengthen countries’ banking supervisory systems and practices in order to minimize the risk of bank failure.

Quick response

The IMF was quick to respond during recent national emergencies...