The Thai economy has demonstrated its strength in its rapid rebound from the global crisis. But the loss of its former dynamism has slowed trend growth and left it largely dependent on exports. Executive Directors encourage an infrastructure-led growth strategy to make a difference to...

Pakistan’s authorities have requested a 23-month Stand-By Arrangement for SDR 5.169 billion in support of their macroeconomic stabilization program. The authorities’ program envisages a tightening of fiscal and monetary policies to bring down inflation and reduce the external...

Global capital flows have multiplied many times over in recent years, mainly between advanced economies but increasingly also to emerging markets, reflecting the general reduction in regulatory and informational barriers. Thus, with international asset positions now dwarfing output, global...

This Selected Issues paper analyses the impact of a potential rebalancing of Icelandic residents’ investment portfolios as capital controls are lifted. It applies optimal portfolio theory to calculate the potential rebalancing toward foreign assets, and then makes an estimate of the...

Capital flows to the nonindustrial countries share three striking characteristics. First, the bulk, of these flows was in the form of debt, not equity; second, the loans were mostly to, or guaranteed by, debtor governments; and third, these debts were largely bank loans, not bonds. This paper...

We examine the effect of non-zero, long-run foreign asset positions on consumption dynamics in response to productivity shocks in a two-country, dynamic, general equilibrium model, with different discount factors across countries populated by overlapping generations of households. We then...

The coordinated Portfolio Investment Survey Guide is provided to assist balance of payments compilers in the conduct of an internationally coordinated survey of security holdings being conducted under the auspices of the IMF with reference to year-end 1997. The Guide has two main purposes: to...

This paper reviews the coordinated portfolio investment survey (CPIS) guide. The objectives of CPIS are to collect comprehensive information, with geographical detail on the country of residence of the issuer, on the stock of cross-border equities, long-term bonds and notes, and short-term debt...

This paper presents a coordinated portfolio investment survey guide provided to assist national compilers in the conduct of the Coordinated Portfolio Investment Survey, conducted under the auspices of the IMF with reference to the year-end 1997. The guide covers a variety of conceptual issues...

Although Armenia itself has a population of only about 3 million, an estimated 8 million Armenians live abroad. In this paper, the size and the sources of remittances to Armenia are first discussed. Then, the appropriate definition of remittances and subsequently present estimates of the...