During the twin crises of 2008–09 Georgia’s foreign exchange reserves have been exposed to a number of external and internal drains. Its exports declined by 21 percent from peak to trough. Bank deposits declined by more than 20 percent in late 2008–early 2009, while deposit dollarization...

This Selected Issues paper reviews the financial sector development in Georgia in recent years, and investigates why it has lagged behind economic development, as well as developments in more advanced transition economies. The paper briefly reviews recent financial sector development in Georgia,...

The econometric results show that it is feasible to estimate robust price and inflation equations for Georgia. The long-term price equation expresses prices as a function of money, the exchange rate, and real income and may be interpreted as portraying equilibrium in the goods market. The paper...

This Selected Issues paper examines Netherlands’ experience with macroeconomic and structural reforms. The reforms, which were introduced gradually and in a consultative manner, were comprehensive in their coverage. They included a credible monetary policy, based on a tight link to the...

This Selected Issues paper examines the strengthening of the external current account for the Netherlands. It reviews this issue, concluding that the change in corporate profitability in a new wage environment was a crucial element, alongside fiscal consolidation, in turning around the current...

The paper examines the evolution of the institutional setup of Lithuania''s Currency Board Arrangement (CBA) and competitiveness from 1994 through 2001, with a view to determining the resilience of the Lithuanian CBA to external shocks in 2002-03. First, several indicators of competitiveness are...

This paper examines the challenges and policy options after hyperinflation in Zimbabwe. The paper reviews the pros and cons of alternative monetary regimes for Zimbabwe to succeed the current multicurrency system, which the authorities consider a temporary arrangement. The analysis suggests that...

This Selected Issues paper analyzes Senegal’s real effective exchange rate (REER) and external competitiveness. A REER significantly above its equilibrium, as determined by economic fundamentals, can impede a country’s external competitiveness, calling for corrective macroeconomic measures....

This Selected Issues paper aims at discussing the impact of the oil windfall on Chad, with a focus on growth, poverty, competitiveness, and fiscal policy challenges posed by the oil revenue outlook. The paper discusses the reforms needed to remove structural factors that constraints the non-oil...

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...