Maldives Technical Assistance Report Revising The Fiscal Responsibility Act

The Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) came into effect in 2013 to reduce rising public debt and achieve fiscal stability. Maldives has experienced rapid public debt accumulation over the past decade. The FRA establishes objectives for maintaining debt at a sustainable level and reducing the overall fiscal balance. The Act also sets minimum standards for fiscal transparency and accountability and requires the Government to prepare and publish medium-term fiscal and debt strategy reports.

Reflecting an ongoing commitment to enhancing fiscal transparency, Maldives is the first small island state, and the second country in Asia, to have undertaken a Fiscal Transparency Evaluation (FTE). The Government of the Maldives (GoM) recognizes the importance of transparency in fiscal management and in delivering on its ambitious policy agenda, while responding to current challenges within a tight fiscal environment. This report assesses fiscal transparency practices in Maldives against the first three pillars of the IMF’s Fiscal Transparency Code (FTC).

This Technical Assistance Report discusses that in the Maldives, public investment trends have been influenced by a number of contextual factors including the economic dependency on tourism, the high exposure to climate change, and the recent democratization. The mission assessed the strength and quality of public investment management (PIM) in the Maldives using the IMF Public Investment Management framework, based on the three phases of the PIM cycle. The report highlights that the most significant weakness in the PIM and the wider Public Financial Management system is poor budget credibility and budget execution. However, some progress has been made in improving PIM institutions, and reforms are ongoing in a number of areas. It is imperative to strengthen the project appraisal process by developing a standard methodology for project appraisal, publishing this methodology and verifying that it is consistently applied by the line ministries. It is also important to develop a framework for ex-post evaluations and ensure that lessons learned from past projects are incorporated in revised guidelines and practices.

Despite headwinds from the war in Ukraine, the Maldives’ economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic has shown resilience. The cyclical rebound and still favorable economic outlook provide an opportunity for the Maldives to address its large fiscal and external vulnerabilities. This calls for immediate policy actions to rebuild economic resilience and reduce debt to a sustainable level. Given that the Maldives is highly vulnerable to climate change, early actions to rein in debt vulnerabilities will help support the Maldives’ efforts to scale up the much-needed climate adaptation investments in a resource constrained context.

Owing to severe fiscal and external imbalances, the Maldives government adopted an IMF program in 2009. Despite some crucial initial actions, fiscal slippages and political polarization have undermined the restoration of sustainability. The key policy challenge is to prevent a fiscal crisis, achieve macroeconomic sustainability, and stimulate growth. The authorities concur with the need to tighten monetary policy. The authorities have welcomed the IMF program as a useful framework to guide and reinforce their efforts to restore external balance and fiscal sustainability.

Using a cross-country sample of 169 IMF-supported programs and detailed studies of 15 programs, this evaluation report examines various aspects of fiscal adjustment in IMF-supported programs. It presents evidence that does not support some critics’ view that IMF-supported programs typically adopt a one-size-fits-all approach to fiscal adjustment, nor the perception that programs always involve austerity by targeting reductions in public spending. The report also proposes a number of recommendations for IMF surveillance and program design in the future.

The April 2021 edition of the Fiscal Monitor focuses on tailoring fiscal responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and adopting policies to reduce inequality and gaps

The Public Investment Management Assessment (PIMA) of Benin has brought to light an institutional framework of high quality but ineffective implementation. In accordance with the PIMA methodology applied in several countries, the mission focused on assessing the institutional strengths for each institution in the analytical framework, as well as its effective implementation. The authorities in 2016 adopted an ambitious investment plan, the government action program (PAG), which is designed to stimulate Benin's economic and social development. Investments in flagship sectors have been identified as means to support this development; the PAG provides recourse primarily to new financing mechanisms, such as public-private partnerships, to ensure the realization of these investments. In connection with the implementation of the PAG, the financial incidences of selected projects should be fully accounted for and reflected in the budget documentation to ensure their sustainability. Enhanced coordination of planning and budget exercises would encourage a better consideration of recurrent expenditure.