This 2013 Article IV Consultation highlights that economic growth in Solomon Islands is slowly rebounding from the slowdown of the first half of 2013, when agriculture, logging, and gold production fell, owing mainly to unfavorable weather developments, lower terms of trade, and one-off factors....

Bank interest rate spreads in Solomon Islands are high by regional standards. This paper examines the determinants of bank interest rates including bank specific, banking sector, macroeconomic, and legal indicators. The results show that the scale of operation, overhead costs, concentration...

This paper discusses Solomon Islands’ Third Review Under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) Arrangement and Request for Modification of Performance Criteria (PC). Program performance under the ECF arrangement has been broadly satisfactory. Reserve buffers have been rebuilt and are at a...

This paper is an account of the economic conditions of the Solomon Islands. The macroeconomic situation has shown a considerable expansion in recent years with the external buffers intact. Although the Islands have shown good growth, the IMF staff expects only a moderate performance in 2013 and...

This paper discusses Solomon Islands’ First Review Under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) Arrangement. The three-year arrangement under the ECF is on track. All December 2012 and continuous performance criteria have been met, except for the cash balance floor, which was temporarily...

The recent global financial crisis has exposed the limitations of a conventional inflation targeting framework in insulating an economy from all shocks, and demonstrated that its rigid application may aggravate the effect of shocks on output and inflation. Possible refinements to the inflation...

Sound policies and favorable external conditions have led to a strong economic recovery, but important challenges lie ahead. Uruguay’s near-term economic prospects are generally favorable. The main short-term challenge is rising inflation in the wake of vigorous growth and capital...

This paper presents the staff report for Peru’s 2008 Article IV Consultation, Fourth Review and Inflation Consultation under the Stand-By Arrangement and request for waiver of applicability of performance criteria. Peru has been liberalizing external trade through tariff reductions in...

The staff report for the 2006 Article IV Consultation on Botswana highlights economic developments and monetary and exchange rate policy. Botswana’s growth has been fueled by continued increases in diamond production; and real diamond output is projected to level off, and then decline...