New Delhi, March 12

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to establish an integrated capacity development centre called the South Asia Regional Training and Technical Assistance Centre (SARTTAC) in the Indian capital of New Delhi to cater to the training needs of South Asian countries, including Nepal.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde and Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley entered into a memorandum of understanding in this regard during the conference on ‘Advancing Asia: Investing for the Future’ organised by the IMF here today.

The SARTTAC will be the first of its kind to be set up by the IMF, and will address training needs and respond to demand for IMF’s technical assistance in six South Asian countries — Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. “It will fully integrate training and technical assistance and is a model for our future capacity development work,” Lagarde said.

The SARTTAC is expected to become the focal point for planning, coordinating and implementing IMF’s capacity development activities in South Asia, including macroeconomic and fiscal management, monetary operations, financial sector regulation and supervision and macroeconomic statistics.

The SARTTAC will offer courses and seminars for policymakers and other government agencies in the six South Asian countries. “It will also build upon the IMF’s in-depth experience with capacity development by drawing on experiences of the IMF’s Regional Technical Centres and Regional Training Centres, which have a proven track record of delivering technical assistance on economic institution building,” says a statement issued by the IMF.

Funds to operate the SARTTAC will come from regional member countries and development partners, such as the Australian Agency for International Development, South Korea and India, adds the statement.