Islamic Republic of Afghanistan: Technical Assistance Report-Report on External Sector Statistics Mission
IMF Staff Country Reports, February 13, 2020
Source details
- Canonical URL
- Islamic Republic of Afghanistan: Technical Assistance Report-Report on External Sector Statistics Mission
Other formats
Bibliographic details
- Published: February 13, 2020
- Series: IMF Staff Country Reports
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781513529912.002
Mission objectives and scope
- Assist the Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) in improving the quality of the balance of payments and international investment position (IIP) statistics.
- Take stock of recent improvements in external sector statistics (ESS) compilation practices.
- Assess implementation of previous technical assistance (TA) recommendations, specifically those from 2018.
Key findings
- The mission commended the DAB’s Monetary Policy Department (MPD) for achieving most of the 2018 TA recommendations.
- Despite progress, major shortcomings remain that reduce the policy relevance of ESS data.
- The highest priority should be given to the improvement of personal transfer coverage and the estimation of unrecorded personal transfers.
- Remittances routed through autonomous Money Service Providers and informal channels are not captured; although, there seems to be a large remittance channel.
- The inclusion of the opium economy will have significant impact in the national and international accounts.
Policy priorities and recommendations
- Improve coverage of personal transfers in balance of payments statistics.
- Estimate and incorporate unrecorded personal transfers into ESS aggregates.
- Strengthen data capture for remittances through autonomous Money Service Providers and informal channels.
- Assess and integrate the economic effects of the opium economy into national accounts and international accounts frameworks.
Subject areas and keywords (as provided)
- Subjects: Balance of payments, Balance of payments statistics, Banking, Central banks, Economic and financial statistics, External sector statistics, Foreign direct investment, Remittances, Reserve assets
- Keywords: balance of payments, Balance of payments statistics, CR, DAB-banks ITRS working group, data verification procedure, External sector statistics, FDI data, FDI data of the ODC, Foreign direct investment, ISCR, ITRS coding, ITRS data validation procedure, ITRS enhancement, ITRS IT, ITRS report form, ITRS revamping, ITRS working group, Middle East, Middle East and Central Asia, MPD staff, remittance, Remittances, Reserve assets
Content in this bundle
- 1afgea2020001