Finance Liechtenstein released the International Monetary Fund’s final report from its first Article IV consultation following Liechtenstein’s accession to the IMF, with the IMF giving an overall positive assessment of the economy and the financial sector. The report highlights stable public finances, close integration with Switzerland and the European Economic Area, a specialised export-oriented industrial base, and a successful internationally oriented financial centre. The IMF forecasts a moderate recovery and sustained low inflation in the coming years while warning that geopolitical uncertainty and weaker global growth could weigh on the export-oriented economy, noting that fiscal buffers and reserves provide room to respond. Macroprudential policy is assessed positively, with Liechtenstein seen as having and using instruments to strengthen financial system resilience; the IMF also describes supervision as effective and points to banks’ high capitalisation and strong liquidity ratios, strong focus on anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing and sanctions compliance, and progress on cybersecurity. Areas for improvement include macroeconomic statistics, including more timely gross domestic product estimates, with work led by the Office for Statistics already underway. Finance Liechtenstein notes the report will serve as a starting point and benchmark for future annual Article IV discussions with the IMF.

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