Of the new members entering the European Union (EU) in May 2004, several had achieved a decade of impressive export growth, expanding significantly their shares of world markets. The empirical analysis shows that over the period 1994–2004, quality and technology upgrading associated with the...

This paper is based on an internal report prepared by the IMF staff in connection with the application of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic (Czechoslovakia) for membership in the IMF. The paper surveys the economic system that had developed up to the time of the reforms begun in 1987 and...

Der Länderbericht des IMF über Turkmenistan beschreibt das wirtschaftliche Umfeld des Landes. In einzelnen Kapiteln wird auf die jüngere wirtschaftliche Entwicklung eingegangen, die institutionellen Rahmenbedingungen für die Wirtschaftspolitik dargestellt und das Wirtschaftsreformprogramm...

This Selected Issues paper and Statistical Appendix examines external competitiveness and the exchange rate for the Slovak Republic. The paper describes two simple types of competitiveness indicators: (i) real effective exchange rate measures, which examine underlying fundamentals thought to...

This paper reviews economic developments in the Slovak Republic during 1994–97. In 1996, a large current account deficit emerged as domestic demand surged by more than 20 percent. At the same time, fiscal policy became expansionary, with the fiscal position turning from surplus to deficit....

This paper presents the Slovak Republic’s Financial System Stability Assessment Update including Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes on Banking Supervision and Insurance Regulation. Commercial banks are by far the dominant financial institutions, though nonbank financial...

Conceptual ambiguities and statistical weaknesses hamper the assessment of external competitiveness. The term competitiveness, while applied extensively, is often imprecisely defined, which can result in analytical errors and mistaken policy advice. Furthermore, aggregate statistical measures of...

The government has begun implementing an ambitious program of banking sector and enterprise reform in 1999. A key aspect of this program is the restructuring and privatization of three large state-owned banks. As a by-product of the bank restructuring, the bad assets carved out from the banks...

During 1996–98, the measured fiscal deficits have substantially underestimated the extent of the fiscal problem in Slovakia. Amid these signs of vulnerability, the present government has assumed office in October 1998, and embarked on policies to restore macroeconomic balances and lay the...