Stabilization and Reform in Eastern Europe: A Preliminary Evaluation

Author/Editor:

Michael Bruno

Publication Date:

May 1, 1992

Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary:

The paper analyzes common issues emerging from the recent experience with Fund-supported programs in Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Romania. These comprise the initial price-overshooting and the output collapse, fiscal sustainability as well as the financial and structural problems associated with bad loan portfolios and sluggish implementation of privatization programs. Substantial success, in varying degrees, has been achieved in the initial macro-stabilization and opening-up effort. At the same time mounting difficulties with fiscal and monetary control may be emerging, as a result of social and political pressures and insufficiently clear policy signals on the micro-issues involving the sharp structural transformation of the productive and financial systems.

Series:

Working Paper No. 1992/030

Subject:

Notes:

Also published in Staff Papers, Vol. 39, No. 4, December 1992.

English

Publication Date:

May 1, 1992

ISBN/ISSN:

9781451844856/1018-5941

Stock No:

WPIEA0301992

Pages:

44

Please address any questions about this title to publications@imf.org