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Western Hemisphere > St. Vincent and the Grenadines

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Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
St. Vincent and the Grenadines: 2024 Article IV Consultation-Press Release and Staff Report
International Monetary Fund. Western Hemisphere Dept.
The 2024 Article IV Consultation with St. Vincent and the Grenadines discusses that the economy rebounded strongly in 2022–23 from the pandemic and 2021 volcanic eruptions, returning to pre-pandemic output levels. Growth is projected at 4.9 percent in 2024, supported by continued growth in tourism and strong investment on infrastructure, particularly the port project. Inflation is projected to ease to 2.5 percent by end-2024, on account of lower imported inflation. Fiscal policy should focus on building buffers and supporting resilience and inclusive growth while safeguarding public debt sustainability. Sustained efforts with structural reforms are imperative to build climate resilience and address structural bottlenecks to investment, employment, and productivity. The ongoing investments in key infrastructure such as ports, roads, airports, and water supply, along with efforts with digitalization and improving investment climate, are crucial for alleviating supply-side bottlenecks and enhancing competitiveness. The financial system remains sound, but efforts should continue to reduce balance sheet vulnerabilities and strengthen regulatory and supervisory frameworks. Capital and liquidity buffers are ample, with no apparent impacts of the compounded shocks on asset quality.
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Eastern Caribbean Currency Union: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. Western Hemisphere Dept.
This Selected Issues paper on the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) focuses on efficient, sustainable, and fair pension schemes. Despite recent reform efforts, the financial sustainability of the ECCU’s defined benefit social security schemes remains under strain, largely reflecting the still relatively low contributions and generous payouts. This, coupled with a rapidly ageing population and high labor market informality, increases the need for a comprehensive review and adoption of further parametric and non-parametric reforms of the pension systems to avoid abrupt and more sizable adjustments in the future as well as to reduce the risks of old-age poverty. This annex reviews pension schemes in the ECCU, with a focus on assessing their design and performance and identifying policy options to improve their efficiency, fairness, and sustainability. Key recommendations include swift adoption of further comprehensive reforms to address design weaknesses, improving coverage, investment strategy, administrative efficiency, and transparency, and establishing automatic adjustment mechanisms.
Keywords:
NIS pension schemes Overview; labor market performance; public sector pension schemes; labor markets in the ECCU; ECCU migration; Pensions; Pension spending; Aging; Retirement; Labor markets; Caribbean; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Eastern Caribbean Currency Union: 2024 Staff Report for the 2024 Article IV Consultation on Common Policies of Member Countries of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union-Press Release and Staff Report
International Monetary Fund. Western Hemisphere Dept.
The 2024 Article IV Consultation with member countries on common policies of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) discusses that the economies have registered a strong recovery after successive external shocks. Fiscal and external balances have improved, but public debt and current account deficits remain high. The financial system has been stable and liquid, although it continues to be confronted with asset quality weaknesses and rising risks in the non-bank financial sector. Longstanding structural challenges affecting private investment and employment create a drag on growth going forward. The regional priority is to rebuild buffers while protecting the fiscal space for priority public investment and social spending. Social policies and institutional labor market reforms would help improve competitiveness by addressing structural constraints to employment and labor productivity. Concerted efforts to address gaps in core economic data improve transparency and strengthen resource capacity for data collection would support calibration of economic policies.
Keywords:
ECCU country; asset quality; ECCU member-country government; ECCU member country; CARTAC TA mission; Anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT); Credit bureaus; Credit; Caribbean; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Eastern Caribbean Currency Union: Technical Assistance Report-Review of Regulations to New Securities Act and Investment Funds Act
International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department
At the request of the Eastern Caribbean Securities Regulatory Commission (ECSRC), a Monetary and Capital Markets (MCM) Department mission conducted a review of a draft version of the new Investment Funds Regulations (IFR) and Securities Regulations (SR) form May 20–June 30, 2022. The two sets of regulations are a key part of the new regime to govern the capital markets in the member territories of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU).
Keywords:
Securities bill; ECCU member country; investment funds bill; Securities commission; IOSCO principle; Mutual funds; Securities; Securities regulation; Caribbean
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
St. Vincent and the Grenadines: 2022 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for St. Vincent and the Grenadines
International Monetary Fund. Western Hemisphere Dept.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines is recovering from the pandemic and 2021 volcanic eruptions. Despite the authorities’ strong efforts to contain deficits, critical fiscal responses to these shocks pushed up public debt, which—while assessed as sustainable—remains at high risk of distress should future shocks materialize. The economy is projected to grow by 5 percent in 2022, supported by large-scale investment projects and recoveries in tourism and agriculture. Surging commodity prices, fueled by Russia’s war in Ukraine, are expected to raise inflation sharply to 5.8 percent in 2022, adding to fiscal and external pressures and weighing on the recovery. So far, the financial system has weathered the shocks relatively well. The outlook is subject to significant downside risks primarily from an abrupt slowdown in trading partners’ growth, potential delays in investment projects including due to supply chain disruptions, and the ever-present threat of frequent natural disasters.
Keywords:
St. Vincent and the Grenadines economy; Vincentian authorities; authorities of St. Vincent and the Grenadines; resilience building; CPI basket; reconstruction activity; Natural disasters; Fiscal stance; Caribbean; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Eastern Caribbean Currency Union: 2022 Article IV Consultation with Member Countries on Common Policies of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union
International Monetary Fund. Western Hemisphere Dept.
This 2022 Article IV Consultation highlights that with Eastern Caribbean Currency Union economies slowly emerging from the pandemic with scars, the impact of the war in Ukraine is a setback to the nascent recovery. Higher food and energy prices, amid ongoing supply disruptions and intra-regional transportation bottlenecks, are raising inflation, eroding income, lowering output growth, worsening fiscal and external positions, and threatening food and energy security. The financial system has remained broadly stable so far, with adequate capital and liquidity buffers, but nonperforming loans remain high and could rise further following the expiration of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank’s loan moratoria program. The outlook is subject to large downside risks, primarily from further increases in commodity prices and new coronavirus disease variants amid vaccine hesitancy, in addition to the ever-present threat of natural disasters. The report recommends that maintaining fiscal prudence while protecting the vulnerable through health spending and temporary targeted transfers and enhanced social safety nets to cope with rising living costs. Adopting well-designed rule-based fiscal frameworks would help achieve fiscal consolidation, enhance resilience to shocks such as natural disasters, and preserve the credibility of the regional debt target.
Keywords:
ECCU economy; ECCU member country; ECCU country; ECCU member states; ECCU region; Natural disasters; COVID-19; Fiscal stance; Caribbean; Global; Climate change; Loans