IMF Executive Board Concludes 2022 Article IV Consultation with Belgium

Growth is expected to slow from 3.0 percent in 2022 to 0.2 percent in 2023, before returning to potential of 1.2 percent over the medium term. Inflation should decelerate from 10.3 percent in 2022 to 5.5 percent in 2023, as energy prices ease. Indexation has opened a wage gap with key trading partners, posing challenges for competitiveness. With aging and social-benefit pressures and in the absence of adjustment measures, the structural fiscal deficit is expected to remain elevated over the medium term at 5½ percent of GDP and high public debt will also rise to about 120 percent of GDP in 2028, increasing vulnerabilities. Risks are tilted to the downside, related to escalation of the war in Ukraine and a sharper-than-expected tightening of financial conditions. Lower energy prices would reduce fiscal pressures, and with progress on structural reforms before elections in 2024, boost confidence.

IMF Executive Board Completes the Third Review Under the Extended Credit Facility, Approves $32.6 Million Disbursement, and Concludes the 2022 Article IV Consultation with the Republic of Madagascar

Since the last Article IV consultation in 2019, the Malagasy authorities have implemented several key policy recommendations, but ambitious reforms remain hampered by limited capacity and weak governance. In a context of lower global growth and high international prices, Madagascar’s growth is projected to stall at 4.2 percent in 2023 while annual average inflation would accelerate above 10 percent. Risks from the domestic political situation, low COVID-vaccination rates and adverse global developments cloud the outlook. On the upside, the implementation of the full reform agenda envisaged in the Plan Emergence Madagascar would have significant effects on productivity and growth.

IMF Executive Board Approves US$968 Million under the Precautionary and liquidity Line arrangement and US$764 Million under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility for Jamaica

Washington, DC: The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a 24-month arrangement under the Precautionary and liquidity Line (PLL) with access of US$968 million (190 percent of quota), to provide insurance against risks from higher commodity prices, a global slowdown, tighter-than-envisaged global financial conditions, and new COVID outbreaks. The Executive Board also approved an arrangement under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) for US$764 million (150 percent of quota) to strengthen physical and fiscal resilience to climate change, advance decarbonization of the economy, and manage transition risks. The RSF is expected to catalyze funding for climate priorities from other official lenders and the private sector.

IMF Staff Concludes Visit to São Tomé and Príncipe

“São Tomé and Principe’s economic conditions are challenging. Long-standing socio-economic vulnerabilities were further compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, persistent energy shortages, the floods at end-2021 and early-2022, and a sharp increase in global food and fuel prices. As a result, 2022 growth slowed to an estimated 0.9 percent, down from an average of about 4 percent in the previous few years. Inflation reached 25.6 percent year-on-year in January 2023. International reserves fell substantially.

People’s Republic of China: Developing Cost-Effective Policies and Investments to Achieve Climate and Air Quality Goals in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Region

The technical assistance (TA) aimed to support the Government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to develop cost-effective, coordinated policies and investment programs to achieve climate and air quality goals in Beijing City, Tianjin City, Hebei Province, and Shandong Province (four municipalities and provinces) of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region of the PRC.

This report validates the completion report's assessment of the TA.

IED overall assessment is successful.

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