Training Program

Junior to mid-level officials who work with exchange rate policy and analysis.

Participants should have an advanced degree in economics or equivalent professional experience and be comfortable with Excel and Excel-based applications. Before taking this course, it is recommended that applicants take either the Financial Programming and Policies (FPP) or the Macroeconomic Diagnostics (MDS) course. Participants should also have a working knowledge of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and EViews.

This course, presented by the IMF Institute for Capacity Development, gives a comprehensive overview of exchange rate analysis and policy.
The first part:

• introduces key definitions and concepts used in exchange rate analysis, such as real exchange rate misalignment; „„ discusses how changes in the real exchange rate may affect external adjustment and growth;
• presents methodologies to estimate the equilibrium real exchange rate and explains the IMF external balance assessment (EBA) approach to measure the degree of real exchange rate misalignment; and
• covers several aspects related to foreign exchange (FX) intervention: objectives, modalities, effectiveness, ways to assess the adequacy of foreign exchange reserves, and their management.

The second part of the course covers the macroeconomic policy tradeoffs related to different exchange rate regimes, the choice of exchange rate regime, and the main exchange rate policy challenges in developing and emerging market economies, such as the use of hybrid regimes, forced and unforced exits from pegs, and the reasons behind “fear-of-floating.”

The course concludes with a discussion of currency crises, macroeconomic policies to prevent them, and the analytical tools used to anticipate them.