IMF | SARTTAC

Target Audience

Mid-level to senior officials in central banks and ministries of finance or economy who are directly involved in diagnosing the state of the macroeconomy and making projections. 

Qualifications

Participants should have an advanced degree in economics or equivalent experience, good quantitative skills, and proficiency in the use of Excel. It is strongly recommended that applicants complete the online FPP.1x and FFP.2x courses or the face-to-face FPP and the online MDSx before enrolling in this course. 

Course Description

This course, presented by the IMF Institute for Capacity Development, is designed to strengthen participants’ ability to comprehensively assess a country’s macroeconomic situation, including the current state of the economy; the stance of fiscal and monetary policy; financial stability; exchange rate misalignments; vulnerabilities in the different sectors; and the medium-term outlook, especially the sustainability of public and external debt.

The course emphasizes practical tools for use in day-to-day macroeconomic analysis and relies on case studies relevant to the region where the course is given to illustrate how these tools are applied and how they can contribute to the policymaking process.    

Course Objectives

Upon completion of this course, participants should be able to:

• Analyze potential output and calculate output gaps, and diagnose the outlook for the economy.

• Assess the stance of current fiscal, monetary and exchange rate, and financial policies.

• Assess macro-financial linkages, including through the analysis of financial sector soundness indicators.

• Assess the medium-term prospects of the economy, especially the sustainability of public and external debt, and identify impediments to long-term growth.

• Identify possible external and internal economic risks and vulnerabilities to economic growth and identify policies to address them.