IMF Capacity Development

The IMF’s Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC) celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2026!

CARTAC has been serving its 23 members across the Caribbean region since 2001, providing support aimed at strengthening human and institutional capacity to design and implement sound macroeconomic and financial policies that promote growth and reduce poverty in the region. Its work spans core areas, critical to economic resilience, including macroeconomic analysis, public financial management, revenue administration, financial stability and supervision, debt management, and economic statistics.

During the annual steering committee meeting in Barbados last week, it's been highlighted that over the years, CARTAC has adapted to better serve its members amid evolving challenges facing the region. The demand-driven technical assistance and training offered by the center have contributed to improvements in revenue administration, budget credibility, debt sustainability, financial sector oversight, and the quality of economic statistics across the region.

CARTAC has also been instrumental in supporting future leaders of the region, having sponsored over 100 interns in numerous national entities across the Caribbean.

Going forward, CARTAC will continue to focus on delivering flexible, results-oriented capacity development, deepening regional peer learning, and integrating macro‑critical issues across its workstreams.

CARTAC serves Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Sint Maarten, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands. Its work is made possible by the support of donor partners: Barbados that hosts the center, as well as Canada, Caribbean Development Bank, Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, European Union (European Commission), the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom (UK in Barbados and Eastern Caribbean).

Capacity development work plays a central role in strengthening economic policymaking across the Asia-Pacific region. That was the main message of Kenji Okamura, IMF’s Deputy Managing Director, who visited Thailand.

During the discussion with authorities, he highlighted the strong partnership between the IMF and Thailand in providing support to countries in the region, as well as supporting the country’s economic resilience and reform agenda.

Visiting the IMF’s Capacity Development Office in Thailand (CDOT), Mr. Okamura reaffirmed the IMF’s commitment to capacity development as a core pillar of engagement with member countries, alongside its support for CDOT’s efforts to deliver high-quality technical assistance tailored to regional needs.

Established in 2012, CDOT is supporting Lao P.D.R., Cambodia and Vietnam. Its work is made possible through the generous support of the Government of Japan and the Bank of Thailand.

🎬 New microlearning playlist: Stratification for the RPPI (Residential Property Price Index)

This series focuses on a key step in RPPI compilation: structuring housing data to better reflect the composition of the property market.
Across a set of short videos, it explains how to define strata, apply weights, and combine results using fixed‑weight and annually chained methods.

▶️ Learn more in the full playlist from the IMF Institute Learning Channel: https://imfol.org/RPPIPL3FB

IMF’s Regional Technical Assistance Center for Central Africa (AFRITAC Central) expands its capacity development work in the region through supporting Equatorial Guinea on macroeconomic topics, particularly in the areas of tax administration, customs administration, and public debt management. This partnership is within the framework of the Public Finance Modernization Support Project, funded by the African Development Bank.

Ivan Bacale Ebe Molina, Minister of Finance, Planning, Economic Development, and the Budget of Equatorial Guinea, signing the agreement with Mesmin Koulet-Vickot, AFRITAC Central’s director, invited the IMF to tailor the implementation of technical assistance to the specific needs and priorities of his country. Both expressed his gratitude to the African Development Bank for its financial support.

Seventy-five officials from finance ministries and tax administrations across Asia Pacific region learned how to formulate tax policies and design tax laws at this week's international capacity development workshop in Bangkok, organized by the International Monetary Fund with the Revenue Department of Thailand.

Improved tax systems are an essential part of generating domestic revenue in a constrained environment, and this workshop provided a unique platform for countries to collaborate and learn from each other in this critical area.

Sessions organized with input from the World Bank Group helped participants respond to the changing landscape of international corporate tax, tax incentives, and tax treaties. Specialized tax treaty training sessions, delivered jointly with staff from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the United Nations, helped participants understand how tax treaties apply in today’s evolving system.

We are grateful to the Japan - The Government of Japan, which supported the organization of this workshop.

Saudi Arabia is the third-largest partner of the capacity development work of the International Monetary Fund!

During the second high-level dialogue between the IMF senior staff and Ministry of Finance of Saudi Arabia, concluded on May 17 in Riyadh, partners discussed progress in fiscal year 2026, and decided on the priorities for fiscal year 2027. The capacity development partnership between Saudi Arabia and the IMF, which commenced in 2024 and amounts to $279 million over ten years, prioritizes three areas:
➡️ Middle East North Africa region, through the Regional Office in Riyadh, self-financed capacity development to Saudi Arabia, the Middle East Regional Technical Assistance Center (METAC), and the Somalia Country Fund).
➡️ Sub-Saharan Africa, through the IMF’s network for African regional capacity development centers.
➡️ Supporting member countries in core areas of IMF’s expertise through the IMF’s capacity development thematic funds.

With the partnership entering its third year, the dialogue concretized the deep trust and flexibility that has developed between the two institutions.

The high-level dialogue was co-chaired by Abdulmuhsen Alkhalaf, Vice Minister of Finance of Saudi Arabia, and Catriona Purfield, Director of IMF's Institute for Capacity Development. For further details, see here: https://bit.ly/4tDoMqp

📣 New microlearning playlist from the IMF Institute Learning Channel: Data Processing for the RPPI

Compiling a Residential Property Price Index starts with one key step: ensuring that housing price data are clean and consistent.

This five‑video series introduces practical techniques for inspecting data, understanding the role of floor area, handling duplicates and missing values, and identifying outliers. These foundational steps help ensure the RPPI is built on reliable and well‑understood inputs.

▶️ Watch the playlist here: https://imfol.org/RPPIPL2FB