The seventh “Japan-IMF Macroeconomic Seminar for Asia (JIMS)” was held successfully from February 26 to March 2, 2018, at GRIPS. 30 senior officials from 20 countries participated in the seminar this year. JIMS is an executive training program targeting senior officials of central banks and ministry of finance of the Asia-Pacific region. It is an annual collaborative project between GRIPS and the IMF Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (OAP).

Under the theme of “Macroeconomic Policy Management and Growth Strategy ”, the five-day seminar discussed current macroeconomic issues and challenges faced by emerging Asia, such as monetary policies of advanced economies and impacts on emerging Asia, the integration of Asian financial market, trends in fiscal policy and debt sustainability, exchange rate management and foreign exchange policy, trade and industrial policy under global value chains, promoting SMEs for sustainable and inclusive economic growth.

Distinguished speakers and discussants from the Bank of Japan, Ministry of Finance, IMF, ADB Institute, Nomura Institute of Capital Market Research, The Japan Research Institute as well as professors of several Japanese Universities and GRIPS shared their knowledge and insights with the participants, who actively joined the seminar discussion and offered their views based on their home countries’ experiences.

A half day visit to the Bank of Japan and the Tokyo Stock Exchange was organized for the seminar participants. The visit enhanced their understanding about the operations of the Japanese central bank and financial market.

The seminar also organized an ice breaking welcome reception for strengthening communications and network building among participants.

At the end of the seminar, each participant was awarded a certificate of completion by Professor Yuqing Xing, the Program Director of JIMS. On the last evening, a farewell reception was held and the seminar participants, speakers and guests from some foreign embassies in Tokyo together spent the last moment in Tokyo.

It was another successful executive training program offered by GRIPS for building the capacity of emerging economies in the Asia-Pacific region. The post-event evaluation suggests that all participants were extremely satisfied with their one-week experiences at the JIMS.

JIMS HP: http://www.grips.ac.jp/jims/