IMF Policy Discussion Papers

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IMF Policy Discussion Papers

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• Africa in the Doha Round: Dealing with Preference Erosion and Beyond
  • Published: December 31, 2016
  • Summary: Improving market access in industrial countries and retaining preferences have been Africa's two key objectives in the Doha Round trade negotiations.
• Banking Reform in the Lower Mekong Countries
  • Published: December 31, 2016
  • Summary: This paper reviews recent banking reform efforts in the lower Mekong countries (LMCs), comprising Cambodia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, and Vietnam.
• Capital Inflows and Balance of Payments Pressures: Tailoring Policy Responses in Emerging Market Economies
  • Published: December 31, 2016
  • Summary: Although capital inflows are generally beneficial to recipient countries, they also pose a challenge for the conduct of economic policy. This paper proposes a conceptual taxonomy to guide the design of policy responses in the face of capital flows.
• Conquering Fear of Floating: Australia's Successful Adaptation to a Flexible Exchange Rate
  • Published: December 31, 2016
  • Summary: Australia has enjoyed fifteen years of uninterrupted economic expansion since 1992 despite shocks such as the Asian crisis in 1997-98 and the information technology bust in 2000-01.
• Considerations in the Choice of the Appropriate Discount Rate for Evaluating Sovereign Debt Restructurings
  • Published: December 31, 2016
  • Summary: Assessments regarding the effectiveness of sovereign debt restructurings are often summarized by comparisons of the net present value of debt service before and after the restructuring. These calculations are inherently sensitive to the choice of discount rate.
• Controlled Capital Account Liberalization: A Proposal
  • Published: December 31, 2016
  • Summary: In this paper, we develop a proposal for a controlled approach to capital account liberalization for economies experiencing large capital inflows.
• Deterring Abuse of the Financial System: Elements of an Emerging International Integrity Standard
  • Published: December 31, 2016
  • Summary: Assessing financial systems' stability has required the IMF to dig deeper into financial sector issues and to include financial integrity elements in its assessments. Integrity elements are increasingly being addressed by international standards.
• Does Excess Liquidity Pose a Threat in Japan?
  • Published: December 31, 2016
  • Summary: This paper examines the effects of quantitative easing implemented by the Bank of Japan (BoJ) since early 2001, looking specifically at the impact on inflation expectations and real asset prices.
• Islamic Bond Issuance: What Sovereign Debt Managers Need to Know
  • Published: December 31, 2016
  • Summary: Recent years have witnessed a surge in the issuance of Islamic capital market securities (sukuk) by corporates and public sector entities amid growing demand for alternative investments.
• Lessons from Successful Labor Market Reformers in Europe
  • Published: December 31, 2016
  • Summary: Welfare states can be reformed successfully, and popular support for reforms can be maintained. But this requires an internally consistent package of labor market, fiscal, and product market reforms, including some kind of buy-in, through, for example, tax cuts.
• Modernizing China's Growth Paradigm
  • Published: December 31, 2016
  • Summary: China has achieved tremendous economic progress in the last three decades, but there is much work to be done to make the economy resilient to large shocks, ensure the sustainability of its growth, and translate this growth into corresponding improvements in the economic welfare of its citizens.
• Pension Reform, Investment Restrictions and Capital Markets
  • Published: December 31, 2016
  • Summary: Pension reform in several emerging market countries has been associated with rapid growth in assets under management and a positive impact on the development of local securities markets.
• Primary Surpluses and sustainable Debt Levels in Emerging Market Countries
  • Published: December 31, 2016
  • Summary: This paper aims to put some constraints on the way primary surpluses are projected when making assessments of public debt sustainability.
• Putting the Cart Before the Horse? Capital Account Liberalization and Exchange Rate Flexibility in China
  • Published: December 31, 2016
  • Summary: This paper reviews the issues involved in moving towards greater exchange rate flexibility and capital account liberalization in China.
• Reforming the Stability and Growth Pact
  • Published: December 31, 2016
  • Summary: A rules-based fiscal framework, such as the EU’s Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), can be an important bulwark against short-sighted policies. Although policies have improved following the SGP’s adoption, shortcomings remain.
• Should Italy Sell Its Nonfinancial Assets to Reduce the Debt?
  • Published: December 31, 2016
  • Summary: This paper assesses the proposal, publicly debated in recent years in Italy, to reduce public debt by selling public assets, especially nonfinancial tangible assets.
• Strengthening Transparency in the Oil Sector in Cameroon: Why Does it Matter?
  • Published: December 31, 2016
  • Summary: There has been a growing recognition of the importance of transparency for economic growth and social development in oil producing countries. This paper analyzes transparency issues in Cameroon's oil sector.
• Trade Issues in the Doha Round: Dispelling Some Misconceptions
  • Published: December 31, 2016
  • Summary: The current round of multilateral trade negotiations-the Doha Round-presents an opportunity for countries to reap the benefits of trade liberalization.
• Understanding Fiscal Space
  • Published: December 31, 2016
  • Summary: With new initiatives to provide low income countries with external assistance in support of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), donors and NGOs are seeking to understand whether "fiscal space" can be provided in the context of IMF-supported programs to support these initiatives.
• Vanishing Contagion?
  • Published: December 31, 2016
  • Summary: While a number of emerging market crises were characterized by widespread contagion during the 1990s, more recent crises (notably, in Argentina) have been mostly contained within national borders.
• A Cautionary Note on the Use of Exchange Rate Indicators
  • Published: March 1, 1993
  • Series: IMF Policy Discussion Papers
  • Authors: Peter Wickham
  • Summary: The paper reviews the basis for the use of various popular exchange rate indicators by tracing their conceptual development, the links between these indicators, and how they are measured in actual practice.
• A Modernized Approach to Managing the Risks in Cross-Border Capital Movements
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper outlines a “modern” approach to managing risks in cross-border capital movements that is consistent with an environment of increased and liberalized capital flows.
• A U.S. Value-Added Tax: A Review of the Issues
  • Published: June 1, 1995
  • Series: IMF Policy Discussion Papers
  • Authors: Christopher M Towe; Saurin Shah
  • Summary: This paper reviews issues related to the introduction of a value-added tax in the United States. In particular, the paper distinguishes between European-styled value-added taxes that are levied similarly to sales taxes, and value-added taxes that are levied through the business and personal income tax systems. The costs and benefits of such taxes, including their potential yield, are then discussed.
• Adjusting to Development: The IMF and the Poor
  • Published: March 1, 1993
  • Series: IMF Policy Discussion Papers
  • Authors: Boris Bernstein; James M. Boughton
  • Summary: Adjusting to Development: The IMF and the Poor
• Africa: Is This the Turning Point?
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper examines the experience of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to answer the question of whether the region is at a turning point in its economic fortunes. The improvement in growth reflects in part a rise in the utilization of existing capacity.
• Agricultural Credit in the Baltics, Russia, and Other States of the Former Soviet Union
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Agricultural Credit in the Baltics, Russia, and Other States of the Former Soviet Union
• Agricultural Growth in Sub-Saharan African Countries and China
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Agriculture remains the dominant sector in the economies of most Sub-Saharan African countries. However, the experience of agricultural growth in the region stands in sharp contrast to the robust performance of agriculture in many Asian countries, particularly China.
• Aid Effectiveness: A Survey of the Recent Empirical Literature
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: The preponderance of evidence from the empirical literature on aid effectiveness suggests that development aid has not had a significant impact on growth in recipient countries.
• An Incomes Policy for Russia?
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: An Incomes Policy for Russia?
• An Inflation Targeting Framework for Italy
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: An Inflation Targeting Framework for Italy
• Are Europe's Social Security Finances Compatible with EMU?
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Pursuant to the Treaty of Maastricht, members of the European Union (EU) intend to participate in the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), in part through convergence toward specified limits on the overall deficit and gross debt of general government.
• Armenia - Reform and Growth in Agriculture
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Armenia - Reform and Growth in Agriculture
• Aspects of the Design of Financial Programs with the Adoption of Indirect Monetary Controls
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Aspects of the Design of Financial Programs with the Adoption of Indirect Monetary Controls
• Asset Prices, Monetary Policy, and the Business Cycle
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: The business cycle in several industrial countries during the period 1989-1993 was different from previous post World War II business cycles in important ways.
• Bank Soundness and Currency Board Arrangements: Issues and Experience
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Bank Soundness and Currency Board Arrangements: Issues and Experience
• Borrowing by Subnational Governments: Issues and Selected International Experiences
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper presents various models of control with advantages and disadvantages, the balance of which would make it more or less suitable to a particular country's circumstances. As these circumstances evolve—as fiscal and macro imbalances improve or worsen—the preferable model may change over time.
• Budget Deficits and the Public Debt in Sweden - The Case for Fiscal Consolidation
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Budget Deficits and the Public Debt in Sweden - The Case for Fiscal Consolidation
• Capital Account Liberalization in the Southern Mediterranean Region
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Capital Account Liberalization in the Southern Mediterranean Region
• Capital Flight from Russia
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper documents the scale of capital flight from Russia, compares it with that observed in other countries, and reviews policy options. The evidence from other countries suggests that capital flight can be reversed once reforms take hold.
• Challenges in Expanding Development Assistance
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper highlights the macro and microeconomic challenges associated with success of the effort to mobilize 0.7 percent of GNP for official development assistance (ODA). To promote achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, enhanced ODA must be as productive as possible.
• China's Foreign Currency Swap Market
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: China's Foreign Currency Swap Market
• Commercial Bank Debt Restructuring: The Experience of Bulgaria
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper reviews commercial bank debt restructuring based on the recent experience of Bulgaria. While the deal is shown to have generated substantial debt relief at a remarkably low cost, several lessons are drawn that may be of broader relevance to countries restructuring bank debt.
• Conditionality as an Instrument of Borrower Credibility
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Fund member countries that adopt market-friendly policies often encounter a credibility problem—market-friendly policies are not effective in stimulating private investment as long as there remains a significant risk of policy reversal.
• Considering the IMF's Perspective on a "Sound Fiscal Policy"
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper provides a perspective on how the IMF assesses a “sound fiscal policy,” focusing principally on industrial and emerging market economies.
• Corporate Debt Restructuring in East Asia: Some Lessons from International Experience
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper summarizes some lessons from international experience for corporate debt restructuring in east Asia. Basic principles of debt restructuring are described, the experiences of Mexico, Chile, the United Kingdom, Hungary, and Poland are examined, and general lessons are drawn.
• Credible Disinflation Programs
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Credible Disinflation Programs
• Cross-Border Issues in Energy Trade in the CIS Countries
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper explores from a regional perspective the distorted nature of trade in energy products within the CIS countries.
• Currency Arrangements in Countries of the Former Ruble Area and Conditions for Sound Monetary Policy
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Currency Arrangements in Countries of the Former Ruble Area and Conditions for Sound Monetary Policy
• Currency Boards: Issues and Experiences
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper discusses some of the issues that concern the operation of currency boards, by comparison to conventional exchange rate pegs, and looks at the experiences of three examples of this type of arrangement: Argentina (from 1991), Hong Kong (from 1983) and Estonia (from 1992).
• Dedicated Road Funds: A Preliminary View on a World Bank Initiative
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: In the past, Road Funds have been criticized as inconsistent with effective expenditure control, as distorting the allocation of public sector resources, and as incompatible with efficient management of government resources.
• Designing Disinflation Programs in Transition Economies: The Implications of Relative Price Adjustment
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Designing Disinflation Programs in Transition Economies: The Implications of Relative Price Adjustment
• Discrepancies in Bilateral Trade Statistics: The Case of China
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Discrepancies in Bilateral Trade Statistics: The Case of China
• Discretion with Rules? Lessons from the Currency Board Arrangement in Lithuania
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Discretion with Rules? Lessons from the Currency Board Arrangement in Lithuania
• Economic Integration and the Exchange Rate Regime: Some Lessons from Canada
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: The Canadian experience with a floating exchange rate regime can shed some light on the question of whether A question of current interest in many parts of the world is whether with growing economic integration among groups of countries makes a fixed exchange rate, or even a common currency, becomes
• Economic Transition and Social Protection: Issues and Agenda for Reform
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper briefly describes the factors constraining the social protection policies in the Baltics, Russia, and other countries of the former Soviet Union (BRO).
• Emerging Equity Markets: Growth, Benefits, and Policy Concerns
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Since the mid-1980s, there has been a very substantial increase in stock market activity in many developing countries. This paper first examines the main characteristics of the emerging stock markets, and illustrates the evolution of equity prices in these markets over the last decade.
• Energy Taxes and Macroeconomic Policy Objectives
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Energy Taxes and Macroeconomic Policy Objectives
• Establishing Monetary Control in Financial Systems With Insolvent Institutions
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Establishing Monetary Control in Financial Systems With Insolvent Institutions
• Exchange Rate Policy and Monetary Strategy Options in the Philippines: The Search for Stability and Sustainability
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper evaluates the Philippines’ experience with different exchange regimes since 1970. It argues that the shift to a flexible regime was crucial to restoring external viability and generating an export-led economic take-off, but that mixed performance in meeting money targets and asymmetric po
• Exchange Rate Regimes in Selected Advanced Transition Economies: Coping with Transition, Capital Inflows, and EU Accession
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Since beginning economic transition, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia have—with much success—employed diverse exchange rate regimes.
• External Borrowing in the Baltics, Russia, and Other States of the Former Soviet Union: The Transition to a Market Economy
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: The external debt of many countries of the Baltics, Russia, and the former Soviet Union has been growing rapidly in recent years and has played an important part in the transition process.
• FDI and the Investment Climate in the CIS Countries
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: In view of disappointing levels of inward foreign direct investment (FDI), this paper examines capital flows into the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries and investigates the main impediments to a more favorable investment climate.
• Financial Integration in Central America: Prospects and Adjustment Needs
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: We assess the current barriers to trade in financial services in the six Central American countries seeking a free trade agreement with the United States (the CAFTA) and examine the relative merits of regional and multilateral liberalization.
• Financial Liberalization in Israel
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Financial Liberalization in Israel
• Fiscal Accounting of Bank Restructuring
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Current guidelines and practice for classifying government bank assistance operations inadequately capture in the fiscal balance some of the most common, and important, operations.
• Fiscal Adjustment in an Oil-Exporting Country: The Case of Indonesia
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Fiscal Adjustment in an Oil-Exporting Country: The Case of Indonesia
• Fiscal Dimensions of EMU
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Fiscal Dimensions of EMU
• Fiscal Regimes for Natural Resource Producing Developing Countries
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Fiscal Regimes for Natural Resource Producing Developing Countries
• Foreign Direct Investment in China: Some Lessons for Other Countries
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: China's increasing openness to foreign direct investment (FDI) has contributed importantly to its exceptional growth performance. This paper examines China's experience with FDI and identifies some lessons for other countries.
• Foreign Exchange Markets in Russia - Understanding the Reforms
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Foreign Exchange Markets in Russia - Understanding the Reforms
• Globalization Facts and Figures
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Globalization has become the focus for a wide range of protests against various features of the world economy. This paper aims to give a concise summary of the economic dimensions of globalization, while leaving to one side other aspects—such as cultural, environmental, or political ones—that are be
• Honduras's Growth Performance During 1970-1997
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: For more than three decades, Honduras’s average annual growth in real per capita GDP has been almost zero and highly uneven, even though its total investment-to-GDP ratio has been relatively large.
• Inflation, Credibility, and the Role of the International Monetary Fund
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper argues that many developing countries may find it difficult to buttress disinflation programs purely through the adoption of traditional credibility-enhancing devices (such as monetary anchors and central bank independence), owing to “technical problems” (for example, high instability of
• Inflation Stabilization and Nominal Anchors
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Inflation Stabilization and Nominal Anchors
• Inflation Targeting: What is the Meaning of the Bottom of the Band?
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper investigates the meaning of the bottom of target bands in inflation targeting regimes. It is argued that the design of lower limits on target bands, if not done with care, can lead to a lack of transparency, potentially confusing markets about how the authorities will react to a fall in i
• Institutional and Operational Aspects of Central Bank Losses
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Institutional and Operational Aspects of Central Bank Losses
• Inter-Enterprise Arrears in Transforming Economies: The Case of Romania
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Inter-Enterprise Arrears in Transforming Economies: The Case of Romania
• International Capital Transactions: Should They Be Restricted?
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Some prominent economists and officials contend that government restrictions should be used to limit international capital movements that are considered destabilizing.
• International Trade in Services: Implications for the Fund
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper reviews the characteristics of international trade in services and of the World Trade Organization’s General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) framework, which was established to regulate it.
• Interventions in Banks During Banking Crises: The Experience of Indonesia
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Interventions in banks are often an integral element of a government’s program for addressing a systemic banking crisis. Interventions may be warranted because the banks are deeply insolvent or riddled with fraud; they may be requiring substantial liquidity support.
• Intraregional Trade in Emerging Asia
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: The share of emerging Asia in world trade has increased sharply over the past 25 years. A large part of this increase is the result of booming intraregional trade.
• Issues in Electronic Banking: An Overview
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Using electronic delivery channels for banking services and products has become increasingly popular in recent years. Electronic banking makes it possible to offer banking services around the world 24 hours a day.
• Issues in the Establishment of Asset Management Companies
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper discusses the role of asset management companies (AMCs) in facilitating bank restructuring and specifies some policy lessons learned from international experience.
• Issuing Government Bonds to Finance Bank Recapitalization and Restructuring: Design Factors that Affect Banks' Financial Performance
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Bonds issued by the government or government agencies are often used to finance bank restructuring following a systemic crisis. Many conflicting considerations affect the design of the bonds used to pay for public sector investment in bank equity or the purchase of distressed assets from banks.
• Japanese Corporate Groups and Imports
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Japanese Corporate Groups and Imports
• Large and Complex Financial Institutions: Challenges and Policy Responses: Lessons from Sweden
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper examines the regulatory and supervisory implications stemming from the dominance of large and complex financial institutions, drawing on the recent Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) mission work on Sweden.
• Large-Scale Post-Crisis Corporate Sector Restructuring
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper summarizes the objectives, tasks, and modalities of large-scale, post-crisis corporate restructuring based on nine recent episodes with a view to organizing the policy choices and drawing some general conclusions.
• Legal and Institutional Obstacles to Growth and Business in Russia
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Although financial stabilization has laid the foundation for growth, structural reform of the economy will determine whether Russia achieves sustained medium-term growth.
• Macroeconomic Management with Informal Financial Markets
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Macroeconomic Management with Informal Financial Markets
• Making a Currency Board Operational
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Making a Currency Board Operational
• Mapping Financial Sector Vulnerability in a Non-Crisis Country
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: The forward-looking framework expounded in this paper links a qualitative evaluation of system-wide vulnerability (covering macro, sectoral, institutional, and systemic liquidity issues) with a quantitative assessment of the financial condition of significant financial institutions.
• Measuring the Progress of Economic Reform in the Countries of the former Soviet Union
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Measuring the Progress of Economic Reform in the Countries of the former Soviet Union
• Mitigating the Social Costs of the Economic Crisis and the Reform Programs in Asia
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper presents a preliminary analysis of the likely social impact of the economic crisis and the reform programs in three Asian countries—Indonesia, Korea, and Thailand. The focus is on likely changes in real consumption expenditures arising from higher inflation and increases in unemployment.
• Monetary and Exchange Rate Policy of Transition Economies of Central and Eastern Europe after the Launch of EMU
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: The more advanced Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) face an evolving set of considerations in choosing their exchange rate policies.
• Monetary Frameworks: Is There a Preferred Option for the European Central Bank?
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper discusses how the size of the monetary union in Europe can influence the choice of the monetary framework. The main conjecture is that the European Central Bank ought to target inflation if monetary union is confined to a “core” group of countries.
• Monetary Operations and Central Bank Balance Sheets in a World of Limited Government Securities
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: The limited supply of government securities in some industrial countries has important ramifications for the operating techniques used by central banks to implement monetary policy, provide credit to the financial sector, and also for the assets they hold on their balance sheets.
• Monetary Transmission and Financial Indexation: Evidence from the Chilean Economy
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper reviews empirical evidence on the operation of the monetary transmission mechanism based on targeting of interest rates on indexed assets in the Chilean economy. The empirical evidence has two policy implications.
• Monitoring Financial Stabilization in Moldova: The Role of Monetary Policy, Institutional Factors and Statistical Anomalies
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Monitoring Financial Stabilization in Moldova: The Role of Monetary Policy, Institutional Factors and Statistical Anomalies
• Non-G-10 Countries and the Basle Capital Rules: How Tough a Challenge is it to Join the Basle Club?
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: The 1988 Basle Capital Accord has introduced the norm of a risk-based capital ratio of 8 percent. It was negotiated among the G-10 countries to strengthen their international banks’ capital base while simultaneously levelling the playing field for competition.
• On a Common Currency for the GCC Countries
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper assesses the eventual replacement of the currencies of the GCC countries with a common currency. It concludes that a properly implemented currency union may contribute to enhance economic efficiency in the region, deepen regional integration, and develop its non-oil economy.
• On the Political Sustainability of Economic Reform
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: On the Political Sustainability of Economic Reform
• Options for Monetary and Exchange Arrangements in Transition Economies
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Options for Monetary and Exchange Arrangements in Transition Economies
• Poverty and Social Impact Analysis in PRGF-Supported Programs
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper aims to inform on the status of Poverty and Social Impact Analysis (PSIA) in IMF-supported programs, detailing the results presented in the recent review of PRGF-supported programs.
• Privatization in Ukraine: Challenges of Assessment and Coverage in Fund Conditionality
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: The paper examines the recent privatization experience in Ukraine in the context of the streamlining of Fund structural conditionality.
• Pros and Cons of Currency Board Arrangements in the Lead-Up to EU Accession and Participation in the Euro Zone
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Historically, countries with currency board arrangements (CBAs) have experienced lower inflation and higher growth than those with other regimes. The experiences of three candidates for EU membership with CBAs (Estonia, Lithuania, and Bulgaria) have also been generally favorable.
• Providing Health Care to HIV Patients in Southern Africa
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: The paper provides an economic analysis of the impact of HIV/AIDS on the health sector i Southern Africa. It provides indicators for the scale of the impact, including estimates of tr. costs of various forms treatment.
• Public Financial Management: Principal Issues in Small Pacific Island Countries
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: The paper discusses reform in public financial management in small, resource-constrained economies such as the Pacific island countries (PICs). It describes the efforts undertaken by PICs in the past and assesses their results.
• Raising Growth and Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa: What Can be Done?
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper argues that sub-Saharan Africa’s growth performance needs to be improved substantially in order to raise standards of living to an acceptable level and achieve a visible reduction in poverty.
• Real Exchange Rate Targeting in Developing Countries
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Real Exchange Rate Targeting in Developing Countries
• Real Wage Adjustment in the Former Soviet Union
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Since 1991, the economies of the former Soviet Union have experienced sizeable shocks that have pushed equilibrium real wages far from pre-transition levels.
• Recent Fiscal Developments in the European Countries of the G-7
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Recent Fiscal Developments in the European Countries of the G-7
• Reconsidering External Financing of Domestic Budget Deficits: Debunking Some Received Wisdom
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: The past decade has witnessed a steady increase in outstanding external sovereign debt issued by emerging market economies.
• Regulatory and Tax Treatment of Loan Loss Provisions
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Provisioning for loan losses is a method for recognizing the reduction in the value of a hank’s loan portfolio. Provisions are an essential element of prudential risk management and capital adequacy measurement and an important market signal.
• Restructuring of Commercial Bank Debt by Developing Countries: Lessons from Recent Experience
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: A number of developing countries, including some of the largest debtors, have recently completed comprehensive debt and debt service restructuring packages with their commercial bank creditors.
• Reviewing Some Early Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers in Africa
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper reviews some early interim and full PRSPs for countries with which the authors worked during 1999-2000 (Uganda, Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Mozambique, Mali and The Gambia). The purpose of the review is to compare and contrast how the PRSP process was established there.
• Reviving the Case for GDP-Indexed Bonds
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper seeks to revive the case for countries to self-insure against economic growth slowdowns by issuing GDP-indexed bonds.
• Russia and the IMF: The Political Economy of Macro-Stabilization
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper reviews the experience with macroeconomic stabilization in Russia during the 2 1/2 years following the beginning of reforms in January 1992.
• Selective Government Interventions and Economic Growth: A Survey of the Asian Experience and its Applicability to New Zealand
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Since the mid-1980s, New Zealand has been engaged in a broad-ranging economic reform program--involving liberalization of key sectors of the economy, reduction in trade protection, and trimming of the public sector--in order to restructure its economy and stimulate growth.
• Sequencing Capital Account Liberalizations and Financial Sector Reform
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Sequencing Capital Account Liberalizations and Financial Sector Reform
• Singapore's Central Provident Fund
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Singapore's Central Provident Fund
• Social Protection in Transition Countries: Emerging Issues
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: The paper discusses the social protection implications of the weakening financial and administrative capacity of countries undergoing economic transition. The formal sector is shrinking, and unemployment and underemployment are rising rapidly.
• Social Protection, Labor Market Rigidity, and Enterprise Restructuring in China
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Social Protection, Labor Market Rigidity, and Enterprise Restructuring in China
• Social Safety Nets for Economic Transition - Options and Recent Experiences
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Social Safety Nets for Economic Transition - Options and Recent Experiences
• Stabilization Policies and Structural Reforms in Albania Since 1997: Achievements And Remaining Challenges
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper assesses the effectiveness of stabilization policies and structural reforms in Albania since 1997 and seeks to identify the remaining key challenges in various policy areas. It also draws lessons for other transition economies from the recent Albanian experience.
• Structural Policies in Developing Countries
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper discusses the broad orientation of the economic systems adopted in developing countries. While government-led development strategies were widely followed by developing countries since the 1950s and 1960s, a distinct trend towards the adoption of market-oriented systems has developed in th
• Systemic Banking Distress - The Need for an Enhanced Monetary Survey
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Systemic Banking Distress - The Need for an Enhanced Monetary Survey
• Tax Administration and the Small Taxpayer
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Small taxpayers should pay their appropriate revenue share while their compliance costs should be reduced. This assumes importance as restructuring in emerging markets has meant rapid growth in services through self-employed small entrepreneurs, who have good revenue potential.
• Tax Policy and the Asian Crisis
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper focuses on tax policy and the crisis in Asia in the context of globalization and technological change. Two sets of conclusions, specific tax reform measures and general lessons from the crisis, form the tax policy agenda on these issues.
• Taxing Agriculture in Pakistan
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Pakistan’s economic performance has been marred by persistently high fiscal deficits which have resulted largely from the inability to raise sufficient revenues. Agriculture is a dominant sector of the economy, but generates very limited revenue from direct taxes on agricultural producers.
• The Capital Inflows Problem: Concepts and Issues
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Since 1990 capital has started to move from industrial countries to developing regions like Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Asia. Reentry into international capital markets is a welcome turn of events for most countries.
• The Definition of Reserve Money - Does It Matter for Financial Programs?
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: The Definition of Reserve Money - Does It Matter for Financial Programs?
• The Energy Sector Reform and Macroeconomic Adjustment in a Transition Economy: The Case of Romania
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper assesses the main issues faced by the energy sector in a transition economy such as Romania and their macroeconomic dimension.
• The First-Round Monetary and Fiscal Impact of Bank Recapitalization in Transition Economies
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: The First-Round Monetary and Fiscal Impact of Bank Recapitalization in Transition Economies
• The IMF and Civil Society: Striking A Balance
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: In the space of just a few years, the term “civil society” has entered the international policy vocabulary in many contexts. The IMF’s engagement with civil society organizations (CSOs) raises several broad questions: Which CSOs have been, and should be, engaged by the Fund?
• The IMF and the Latin American Debt Crisis: Seven Common Criticisms
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: The IMF played a key role in developing and implementing the debt strategy throughout the 1980s. That strategy not only overcame the crisis but also produced successful transformationsof several major economiesin Latin America. Nonetheless, the IMF's role has also been criticized on several grounds.
• The Macroeconomic Impact of Privatization
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: The Macroeconomic Impact of Privatization
• The New Approach to Sovereign Debt Restructuring: Setting the Incentives Right
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: The paper discusses key incentive-related issues of the sovereign debt restructuring mechanism recently outlined by the IMF First Deputy Managing Director.
• The New Monetary Policy Framework of the United Kingdom
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: The New Monetary Policy Framework of the United Kingdom
• The New Protectionism in Industrial Countries: Beyond the Uruguay Round
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper presents a broad overview of trade protection in industrial countries from the 1970s to the present. The emphasis of such measures has shifted from the protection of agriculture and basic manufacturing industries, where many industrial countries had lost (or never had) comparative advanta
• The Operation of the Estonian Currency Board
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: The Operation of the Estonian Currency Board
• The Payment System and Monetary Policy
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Achieving the primary objective of price stability without unduly compromising the operational efficiency of the payment system constitutes a major problem for central banks. Routine monetary policy presumes a given institutional and technological framework, including aspects of the payment system.
• The Role of Monthly Economic Statistical Bulletins
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Monthly economic statistical bulletins issued by central banks and national statistical offices, the focus of this study, are well established in countries with advanced statistical systems.
• The Role of MULTIMOD in the IMF's Policy Analysis
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper describes the basic structure, underlying philosophy, and key behavioral properties of MULTIMOD. It also focuses on several recent applications of macromodels in the IMF’s policy analysis, emphasizing that most questions put forward for analysis with models like MULTIMOD are initially pos
• The Role of the Currency Board in Bulgaria's Stabilization
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper focuses on the process leading to the choice of a currency board as a stabilization instrument, and its specific design. The use of a currency board was complicated and controversial because of serious structural problems, including a systemic banking crisis.
• The Speed of Financial Sector Reform: Risks and Strategies
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: The Speed of Financial Sector Reform: Risks and Strategies
• The State of Tax Policy in the Central Asian and Transcaucasian Newly Independent States (NIS)
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Two possible tax policy strategies for the NIS are: (1) an optimal nondistortionary tax structure as a one-shot action; and (2) a structure with identifiable and clearly understood distortionary elements as a temporary phenomenon to close the fiscal gap.
• The Strategy of Reform in the Previously Centrally-Planned Economies of Eastern Europe: Lessons and Challenges
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper analyzes some of the lessons that can be drawn from the experience of Eastern Europe in the process of transition to a market economy that is under way, and examines some key challenges currently facing policymakers in these economies.
• The Structural Crisis in the Swedish Economy: Role of Labor Markets
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper focuses on the main institutional features of the Swedish labor market and analyzes the reasons for the high wage inflation and slow productivity growth.
• The Taxation of High Income Earners
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: The 1980s trends were to lower marginal personal income tax rates, scale down rate structures, and apply the highest rate at lower levels of per capita GDP.
• The United States: Japan Current Account Imbalance: A Review
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper reviews the macroeconomic and microeconomic dimensions of the United States-Japan conflict over trade. From a macroeconomic perspective, there is nothing surprising about Japan’s surpluses, given global trends in saving and investment.
• The World Market for Natural Gas - Macroeconomic and Financial Implications
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: The World Market for Natural Gas - Macroeconomic and Financial Implications
• Three Propositions on African Economic Growth
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper describes the African economic growth and asserts the establishment of a growth-conducive environment is the unifying purpose of the IMF’s extensive involvement in Africa. A major purpose of the IMF’s extensive involvement in Africa is to promote high quality growth.
• Transparency in Central Bank Operations in the Foreign Exchange Market
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Transparency in the economic sphere involves making public sector action visible and understandable to the private sector. Transparency in central bank operations can be seen a complement to the greater transparency being established in policy formulation.
• Ukraine's Gas Arrears: Issues and Recommendations
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper discusses issues related to the gas arrears ‘crisis’ in Ukraine. It concludes that the problem, which can be traced to policy distortions, can be contained through an acceleration of structural reforms.
• Unemployment in Ireland: A Survey of Features and Causes
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: This paper examines the problem of unemployment in Ireland. A brief description of the main distinctive features of the structure of Irish unemployment is presented. Based on up to date literature, the possible causes behind unemployment are reviewed.
• Use of Central Bank Credit Auctions in Economies in Transition
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Use of Central Bank Credit Auctions in Economies in Transition
• What Should be Done with a Fiscal Surplus?
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: What Should be Done with a Fiscal Surplus?
• When is a Fiscal Surplus Appropriate?
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: When is a Fiscal Surplus Appropriate?
• Would Saving U.S. Social Security Raise National Saving?
  • Published: December 30, 2016
  • Summary: Analysts agree that raising national saving is one of the key objectives of social security reform in the United States. Hence, to judge the merits of proposals requires a comparison of saving responses.