Country Reports
2025
June 24, 2025
Seychelles: Fourth Reviews Under the Arrangement Under the Extended Fund Facility and the Arrangement Under the Resilience and Sustainability, Request for Modification of Performance Criteria, and Request for Modification of Reform Measures Under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Seychelles
Description: Economic growth for Seychelles in 2024 is estimated at 2.9 percent. Year-on-year inflation reached 1.7 percent as of December, driven by an increase in utility prices and pass-through effects of currency depreciation. Fiscal performance in 2024 was tighter than budgeted, driven mainly by underspending on capital expenditure. The current account deficit widened to 7.9 percent of GDP in 2024, but gross international reserves increased to $774 million (equivalent to 3.8 months of imports and 115 percent of the ARA metric). General elections are scheduled for late-September of this year.
June 24, 2025
Republic of Uzbekistan: 2025 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; and Staff Report
Description: Uzbekistan has made remarkable progress in its transition to a market-oriented economy. Far-reaching economic reforms have transformed the economy and spurred capital inflows which, combined with buoyant remittances and favorable commodity prices, have driven robust growth. The authorities remain firmly committed to their reform agenda to entrench macro-financial stability, reduce the footprint of the state in the economy, and foster a vibrant private sector.
June 24, 2025
Iceland: 2025 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report and Statement by the Executive Director for Iceland
Description: Following a strong rebound after the pandemic, a successful tightening of fiscal and monetary policies has slowed domestic demand growth and reduced inflationary pressures. The challenges now are to fully return inflation to target while ensuring a soft landing for the economy; build resilience by gradually increasing fiscal buffers; and strengthen productivity and further diversify the economy to support medium-term growth and reduce Iceland’s vulnerability to shocks.
June 24, 2025
Iceland: Selected Issues
Description: This Selected Issues paper focuses on assessing the monetary policy implications of changes in owner-occupied housing cost measurement. The paper introduces a new Iceland-specific Quarterly Projection Model called IceQMod. The model is used to assess the implication of a change in the methodology for calculating the cost of housing services received by homeowners in the consumer price index. IceQMod is a semistructural model gap model of the Icelandic economy. The change in methodology for measuring imputed rent could result in lower but more volatile inflation. The change in methodology may have implications for monetary policy moving forward. There may be an increased need to adopt macroprudential measures to manage excessive movements in house prices. By focusing on an inflation measure that was, until recently, significantly impacted by house price inflation, the Monetary Policy Committee was implicitly leaning against the wind on asset prices. Moving forward there may be a need to implement macroprudential measure more actively if increased fluctuations in house prices are viewed as a risk to financial stability, alongside other measures to address imbalances in the housing market.
June 24, 2025
Republic of Uzbekistan: Financial Sector Assessment Program-Financial System Stability Assessment
Description: This inaugural Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) in Uzbekistan took place against the backdrop of a strong and resilient economy undergoing wide-ranging reforms. The main objectives of the authorities’ strategy for developing the banking sector are to significantly increase the role of private banks and improve the operations of the remaining state-owned commercial banks.
June 23, 2025
Central African Republic: Third and Fourth Review Under the Extended Credit Facility, Requests for a Waiver of Nonobservance of Performance Criteria, and Financing Assurance Review
Description: CAR's ECF-supported program has helped support crucial governance and transparency reforms, aided by improvements in the security environment. Nonetheless, fiscal pressures persist, as revenue mobilization has not kept pace with rising spending and debt service. Particularly, fuel supply constraints and subpar tax compliance have continued to weigh on revenue collection, while weak public financial management (PFM) and limited spending controls have hindered budget execution. Grants have materialized broadly as expected but remain well below pre-2020 levels, undermining debt sustainability. Staff finalized CAR’s Country Engagement Strategy (CES) (Annex III), outlining key fragility drivers and how IMF support can help address them.
June 20, 2025
Fiji: 2025 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; and Staff Report
Description: Economic recovery has continued, driven mainly by tourism. Inflation decelerated sharply in 2024 as the impact of the 2023 VAT hike faded. The fiscal stance was tightened, but monetary and financial conditions remain highly accommodative. Progress has been made in enhancing the business environment and addressing near-term constraints to growth, but significant structural challenges remain.
June 18, 2025
Mauritius: 2025 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; and Staff Report
Description: Mauritius recovered solidly from the pandemic on the back of buoyant tourism, social housing construction, and financial services but is facing fiscal and structural challenges—high public debt, significant public investment needs for climate, low productivity, and an ageing society.