BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 23
By Nargiz Sadikhova – Trend:
International Monetary Fund (IMF) has maintained a close engagement and a fruitful policy dialogue with Kazakhstan’s authorities despite COVID-19 situation, Nicolas Blancher, IMF Mission Chief for Kazakhstan told Trend.
Talking COVID-19 affecting IMF’s plans for cooperation with Kazakhstan, Blancher said that following the pandemic and the introduction of travel restrictions, the cooperation between the IMF and the Kazakhstan authorities had to rely on remote communications.
“However, it has remained strong. The IMF has tried to be as responsive as possible to the needs of its members, and we have maintained a close engagement and a fruitful dialogue with the authorities in various ways. One of these is through the provision of remote technical assistance, which has recently intensified in the fiscal, financial sector, and statistical areas,” Blancher said.
He added that once the pandemic situation stabilizes and travel restrictions are lifted, IMF will also resume its regular country visits to conduct surveillance and provide in-person policy advice and technical assistance.
“As you may know, we also plan to open a regional center for regional technical assistance (the CCAMTAC) in Almaty, which will serve Kazakhstan and other countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia region, as well as Mongolia. We see this as a major opportunity to better serve the region, including because the CCAMTAC will start operating remotely this year in response to members’ pressing needs during the COVID-19 crisis, before the center opens physically next year,” Blancher said.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an organization of 189 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.
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