Solomon Islands: Selected Issues

IMF Staff Country Reports, May 11, 2023

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Solomon Islands: Selected Issues

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Bibliographic details

• Published: May 11, 2023
• Series: IMF Staff Country Reports
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400241482.002

Summary

• This Selected Issues paper on Solomon Island discusses big data and high frequency surveillance for Pacific Islands countries (PICs).
• Big data can be used to fill data gaps for PICs and the IMF can serve as a capacity-building and innovation hub.
• The estimators computed based on AIS data have been used as part of the surveillance dashboard by the Solomon Islands team and have been discussed with the authorities.
• Initiatives like the Arslanalp, Koepke, and Verschuur estimation exploit cross-country synergies and technical expertise available at the IMF to provide valuable inputs for both internal and external use.

Key findings and applications of AIS-based estimators

• AIS-based estimators have practical use in country surveillance and have been integrated into the Solomon Islands team’s surveillance dashboard.
• AIS data’s global coverage enables analysis beyond single-country applications, such as global supply chains, trade disruptions from natural disasters, and the effect of trade policies.
• Single-country AIS applications cited include:
  • Monitoring of fishing vessels to estimate fishing rents from daily vessel schemes.
  • Monitoring export-related ships to detect piracy/exports misreporting.
  • Tracking tourism in real time.

Initiatives and methodological contributions

• The paper highlights IMF-exploited initiatives and estimators, including:
  • Arslanalp estimation.
  • Koepke estimation.
  • Verschuur estimation.
• These initiatives leverage cross-country synergies and IMF technical expertise to produce inputs for internal and external use.

Policy relevance and capacity building

• The IMF can act as a capacity-building and innovation hub to help PICs use big data and high-frequency surveillance tools.
• Engagement with authorities has occurred through discussion of AIS-based estimator outputs incorporated into surveillance tools.

Subjects and keywords

• Subject: Agroindustries, COVID-19, Economic sectors, Exports, Health, Imports, International organization, International trade, Monetary policy, Trade balance
• Keywords: Agroindustries, COVID-19, D. trade flow, export volume, Exports, Global, Honiara port activity, import volume, Imports, Island port activity, Pacific Islands, Trade balance

Content in this bundle

• Solomon Islands: Selected Issues; IMF Country Report No. 23/163; April 10, 2023
  • Solomon Islands: Selected Issues; IMF Country Report No. 23/163; April 10, 2023 (Markdown version)
  • Solomon Islands: Selected Issues; IMF Country Report No. 23/163; April 10, 2023 (PDF)