Upon entry into the European Union, countries become members of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), with a derogation from adopting the euro as their currency (that is, each country joining the EU commits to replace its national currency with the euro, but can choose when to request...

The Slovak Republic’s 2005 Article IV Consultation reports that sound macroeconomic management and a wide range of fundamental structural reforms are supporting nominal convergence with European Union norms. Real GDP growth accelerated to 6 percent in 2005, driven by an improvement in the...

This paper discusses key findings of the Third Review Under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) for Haiti. Despite external shocks, program performance was solid in the first half of FY2008, with all but one quantitative performance criteria (PC) met. Most structural conditionality...

This 2007 Article IV Consultation highlights that boom in private consumption in Iceland was facilitated by easing household credit conditions, tax cuts, rapidly rising housing and equity wealth, and an appreciating real exchange rate. As a result, the output gap peaked at over 5 percent in...

Indonesia’s external borrowing spreads increased by more than 1000 bps from mid-2007 to late 2008, before subsiding in recent months. The large increase in spreads prompted questions about whether the spreads adequately reflect the improvements in fundamentals made over the past few...

This 2008 Article IV Consultation highlights that Bolivia’s overall fiscal position has improved in 2008. Booming hydrocarbon and mining exports, together with high remittance inflows, led to a record-high current account surplus and large reserve accumulation, with major pressures on...