Japan Administered Accounts
Japan-Funded Technical Assistance Projects
Resources provided under the "Japan Administered Account for Selected Fund Activities" (JSA) can be used to finance the costs of short and long-term technical assistance experts and those associated with providing seminars and workshops.
While technical assistance activities financed by the JSA can be in all areas of the world, the Japanese authorities place high priority on funding technical assistance activities in Asia and the Pacific, Central Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, and countries of the former Soviet Union. Consistent with the IMF's technical assistance policy, the Japanese authorities place high priority on assistance for countries which have demonstrated strong efforts and good track records in the implementation of economic reform policies.
Activities to be funded from the JSA are planned in advance each year. At the beginning of each fiscal year, the IMF provides the Government of Japan with a list of projects which it intends to submit for consideration in the course of the year. Thereafter, individual projects are submitted on a monthly basis through the Office of Japan's Executive Director at the IMF for approval.
To receive technical assistance, IMF member countries have to submit a request to the relevant functional department at the IMF. Received requests are carefully considered by the concerned functional and area departments to ensure that they fall within the core mandate of the IMF's technical assistance program and otherwise meet the established prioritization criteria. Once this is assured, project proposals are prepared and submitted to the IMF's Office of Technical Assistance Management which reviews the proposals for conformity with the established Guidelines for the JSA. The proposals are then considered for approval by the Japanese authorities.
Within four weeks of a project's completion, the IMF submits a project assessment to the Japanese authorities. Any request for an extension of a project also requires an assessment. This assessment is complemented by an evaluation of the technical assistance conducted by the recipient institutions. This evaluation process utilizes a questionnaire provided to the recipient countries. The results of these evaluations are reviewed by the IMF and provided to the Japanese authorities. See below for a list of recently-approved projects.
In addition, JSA-funded technical assistance projects in two or three countries are visited and reviewed each year by a joint Japan-IMF mission. These visits seek to provide the Japanese authorities with a first-hand view as to how JSA funding is being utilized in the field. During the visits, participants assess how the authorities value the work of experts funded by the JSA. The visits are also used to review whether the authorities are making effective use of the assistance and whether the technical assistance is making a contribution to the reform process.
JSA Projects Approved, FY2003
JSA Projects Approved, FY2004
JSA Projects Approved, FY2005
JSA Projects Approved, FY2006
JSA Projects Approved, FY2007
JSA Projects Approved, FY2008 (as of March 2008)