This Selected Issues paper covers three topics of particular relevance to Mauritania: export competitiveness and exchange rate policy, the monetary policy framework, and the transfer of government deposits from commercial banks to the central bank. The paper reports on the recent economic...

Even though the automobile industry is technologically advanced, the increasing integration of low-income countries into the global division of labor has put competitive pressure on traditional automobile producing countries. New end-producers emerged in Asia, Latin America as well as Southern...

This Selected Issues paper and Statistical Appendix summarizes the factors explaining Vanuatu’s recent growth performance, which has weakened since the mid-1990s. The paper highlights that Vanuatu’s annual rate of growth averaged 3⁄4 percent during 1997–2001, compared with 43⁄4 percent...

This Selected Issues paper on Ghana shows that as a small, open low-income economy, the country faces several major challenges in its conduct of disinflation policy. Ghana has historically experienced volatile and often high inflation rates. The paper also presents a model that recognizes...

This paper reviews trends in GDP and other macroeconomic variables since independence. It assesses the performance of the different sectors of the economy and expenditure categories. The paper identifies a number of products that could contribute to maintaining the high growth rate that...

Iran has received much attention from a geopolitical and regional standpoint, but its economic challenges have not attracted a similar degree of interest. With a population of 69 million, considerable hydrocarbon resources, a dynamic and entrepreneurial middle class, and a relatively...