CLMV officials stress need for proper monetary infrastructure

The officials from the four countries gathered in Bangkok during December 3-5 to attend a workshop organised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s Bangkok based Technical Assistance Office for Laos and Myanmar (TAOLAM), and the Bank of Thailand.

According to a statement from the IMF, the participants found considerable common ground on the issues and possible solutions. They noted that effective monetary policy implementation relies on a sound legal framework, an efficient payment and settlement system, and appropriate tools for the level of development of the domestic financial market. 

They also observed that monetary operations have to be designed to support the broader macroeconomic framework and be consistent with the state of financial markets development. The collection and monitoring of relevant data, as well as the need for clear central bank communications, were essential to ensuring the desired objectives were met.

At the workshop, international experts discussed key operational aspects of implementing monetary policy, including monetary policy instrument toolkit, data and monitoring needs, additional challenges faced in dollarized economies, and monetary policy interaction with banking and financial sectors. Participants from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam made presentations on their country experiences, challenges faced, and the way forward. 

Officials from the Bank of Thailand shared their experience in moving to indirect monetary policy instruments.

TAOLAM, located in Bangkok, serves mainly Laos and Myanmar. It provides capacity-building assistance in several core areas of expertise of the fund: public financial management; monetary policy and operations; macro-fiscal analysis; and external and government finance statistics. Its activities are supported by the Ministry of Finance of Japan and the Bank of Thailand.