This Selected Issues paper on Samoa reports that remittances are the main source of foreign exchange to the Samoan economy. In addition to remittances, travel credits also play an important role in the economy. Official transfers are also significant, and should remain an important source of...

This paper focuses on the Fourth Review Under the Staff-Monitored Program (SMP) for Afghanistan. Under the SMP, Afghanistan continued to make progress in improving macroeconomic management, strengthening its capacity to formulate policy, and creating conditions for sustainable economic growth....

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 estimates an equilibrium path for South Africa’s real effective exchange rate. The paper briefly describes the dynamics of the real exchange rate and its determinants. It investigates the presence of a long-term relationship between the real exchange rate and...

Over the past decade or so, Tunisia has experienced a strong economic performance while pursuing a constant real exchange rate rule (CRERR). The limitations of this rule are now beginning to emerge in the context of a more open economy, regional integration, a more market-based monetary policy,...

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...

In this study, the economic stability of Croatia is overviewed after the global crisis. The reforms outlined in the government’s economic recovery program (ERP) are in progress. Judicial reforms are instituted to strengthen bankruptcy procedures for companies. To improve the medium-term...

This Selected Issues paper assesses the external competitiveness of Mauritius over the period 1980–2007, with particular attention to the most recent years. The paper estimates the equilibrium real exchange rate using the macroeconomic balance approach, the single-equation equilibrium...

The staff report for Uganda’s combined 2008 Article IV Consultation and Fourth Review Under the Policy Support Instrument is presented. Building on a foundation of two decades of sound policies, Uganda achieved an impressive economic performance, with high growth, low inflation, and...

Macroeconomic developments benefited from oil windfalls, but structural problems still impede non-oil growth. Fiscal and external balances improved in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) because of the surge in oil prices and better fiscal management. Oil-related reserve...