BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 16
By Jeila Aliyeva - Trend:
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WB) reviewed opportunities to support projects of representatives of the private sector of Turkmenistan, Trend reports with reference to Turkmenistan’s State News Agency.
The discussions were held during a videoconference between representatives of the IMF, WB, and the Ministry of Finance and Economy of Turkmenistan.
Thus, representatives of WB provided the Turkmen side with information about the latest status of the Doing Business project.
During the online meeting with the IMF, prospects for cooperation in several areas were considered. In particular, there was information about the upcoming plans of the IMF and measures to respond to COVID-19. The sides also discussed issues of financing Turkmenistan in order to develop an accelerated mechanism to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
Prompt actions to provide support during the current crisis will have a positive effect in the context of the global economic downturn and will help to stabilize the situation as soon as possible, the report says.
As earlier Natalia Tamirisa, IMF Mission Chief for Turkmenistan told Trend, the prudential framework should be strengthened to preserve financial stability and integrity in Turkmenistan.
She added that to improve Turkmenistan’s financial sector, the authorities should be encouraged to prepare specific action plans to align prudential measures with Basel standards.
“Without such plans, continued regulatory forbearance would be detrimental to the health of the banking sector,” she added.
Tamirisa noted that based on the assessment of the soundness of the banking sector, a plan needs to be made for closing non-systemic insolvent state-owned banks and privatizing or recapitalizing other state-owned banks while improving bank corporate governance.
Continued upgrading of the skills of bank regulators and supervisors is of paramount importance in the context of prudential reforms, she noted.
Also, Tamirisa said how Turkmenistan might attract more foreign investments in its financial sector.
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