Edited by Said El-Naggar, this book contains six papers presented at a seminar held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, under the sponsorship of the Arab Monetary Fund and the IMF. The papers address the issues of adjustment and development in the Arab World, including the role of the IMF and...

Fiscal problems have long been considered a central feature of financial--that is, currency, debt, and banking--crises. This paper addresses four questions: What are the fiscal causes of crises? Which fiscal vulnerability indicators help to predict crises? Can fiscal variables explain the...

This paper explores the experience of six countries (Chile, Colombia, Egypt, Mexico, Spain and Thailand) with capital inflows. It illustrates that although capital inflows are usually beneficial, too great an inflow can become a problem and make it difficult for authorities to choose the...