The 2024 Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank once again brought together delegations from 190 member countries in Washington to discuss the global geopolitical situation and the outlook for global economic growth, as well as for specific regions and countries.CBSM, along with the government delegation led by the Secretaries of State for Finance and Industry, participated in the Meetings from April 18 to 20, with President Catia Tomasetti, Managing Director Andrea Vivoli, and Head of International Relations Giuliano Battistini.
During the Spring Meetings, Washington experts presented their economic forecasts, with the World Economic Outlook update indicating a global economic recovery (3.2% for 2024 and 2025), although slow and uneven across regions. This recovery is marked by surprising resilience despite significant interest rate hikes by central banks aimed at restoring price stability. One of the key developments highlighted was the growing importance of artificial intelligence (AI), both in the short term and as a driver of development for small economies like San Marino.
CBSM also held bilateral meetings with the representatives from 12 Central Banks and supervisory authorities and, together with the government delegation, it participated in discussions with finance ministers, political authorities, and senior technical officials from the IMF and World Bank.
The participation in the Spring Meetings allowed CBSM to strengthen its international relations and pave the way for further cooperation agreements in the field of supervision, which may be defined in the coming months. Specifically, meetings were held with U.S. financial authorities (U.S. Treasury Department, SEC, and Federal Reserve Bank), various Eurosystem supervisory authorities (Deutsche Bundesbank, Banque de France, Bank of Italy, Banco do Portugal, Bank of Greece, and Bank of Malta), as well as non-European countries (England, Argentina, and Georgia).
Catia Tomasetti, President of CBSM, emphasized: “The current global geopolitical situation, contrary to the hopes of the international community, is showing increasing signs of tension, with new regional conflicts adding to ongoing crises in an environment of escalating risks for the global economy. In this context, supervisory authorities are called upon to collaborate even more, with the aim of consolidating a global safety network that must have no weak links, and for which even San Marino, with its central bank, can make important contributions.”
Andrea Vivoli, Managing Director, pointed out that: “The global financial system is now characterized by an extremely fast and easy transfer of funds, which makes the data and information available to central banks crucial for effective supervision of both financial flows and the entities involved. In this regard, during our meetings with other supervisory authorities at the Spring Meetings, we found substantial agreement on the vision that strengthening collaborative relationships is a necessary safeguard for the orderly development of each country’s banking and financial sectors.”
The discussions also covered topics such as San Marino's European integration and CBSM’s ongoing efforts to increase involvement in issues related to climate change and energy transition, contributing to the actions undertaken by the main supervisory authorities through the Network for Greening the Financial System.
At the conclusion of the Meetings, the San Marino delegation met with IMF representatives (Executive Director, EUR Department, MCM Department and staff) and World Bank representatives (Executive Director), who acknowledged the progress made by the Country, recently reaffirmed by the Concluding Statement of the Staff Visit mission held in early April 2024. These meetings also served as an opportunity to plan the IMF and World Bank’s upcoming activities related to San Marino, including the Article IV mission scheduled after the summer and certain technical assistance for supporting activities related to the financial system and national statistics.