Trade facilitation - IMF

Technical assistance is a core IMF activity with a focus on public financial management, central bank operations, financial sector supervision, and statistics. Public financial management is a broad area that includes technical assistance in tax policy and tax administration with close links to trade facilitation. For example, it comprises advice on improving the effectiveness of tax and customs administration; increasing tax compliance through strengthening collection, audit, and taxpayer

About the half of the IMF’s technical assistance is provided to low- income developing countries, in particular in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia versus about 40 percent for emerging market and other middle-income countries. The IMF is providing an increasing part of its technical assistance through ten regional centers located in Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Mauritius, Tanzania, Barbados, Guatemala, Lebanon, Fiji, and India. Also, the IMF offers training courses for government officials at its headquarters in Washington, D.C., and at seven regional training centers in Austria, Brazil, China, India, Kuwait, Singapore, and Tunisia.