External Balance Assessment - EBA Lite Workshop (EBA)
Target Audience
Officials from ministries of finance, economy, and planning and central banks who advise on or help implement macroeconomic, fiscal, monetary, and financial sector policies.
Qualifications
Participants are expected to have a degree in economics or equivalent experience, and be proficient in the use of spreadsheets (particularly Excel). It is strongly recommended that applicants complete the online FPP.1x course before enrolling in this course.
Course Description
In this course, presented by the IMF Institute for Capacity Development and Strategy, Policy and Review Department, participants will learn about the external assessment frameworks that the IMF uses in conducting external sector assessments, with a brief introduction about the External Balance Assessment (EBA) methodology for systemic countries, and a focused presentation on the Revised EBA-Lite methodologies for the 139 countries of the membership who are not covered by the EBA methodology. The Revised EBA-Lite methodology consists of three complementary modules (a regression module; a module for external assessment in commodity exporters; and one that applies to highly indebted countries). Participants will learn about the application of each of these different modules to countries in Asia.
Course Objectives:
Upon completion of this course, participants should be able to:
- Understand the framework, the inputs used, and the output created by the Revised EBA-Lite Methodology in conducting its external sector assessments
- Apply the Excel-based tools to calculate the external sector norms and gaps for a country
- Identify the policy measures required to bring the external sector position to one that is broadly in line with desirable policies and fundamentals
- Discuss the contribution of domestic and foreign policy deficiencies to the external sector position
- Discuss the role of reserve adequacy, capital flows, and the external balance sheet in the external position
- Draw on country-specific information to explain the limits of the EBA-Lite models in the overall external assessment
