This Selected Issues paper attempts to analyze the end-point problem and improve the quality of potential GDP estimates for Germany. It projects that Germany’s potential GDP growth will slow over the coming decade, mainly because of declining labor input. The paper focuses on a long-term...

This Selected Issues paper analyzes the growth prospects of the Greek economy. It is estimated that exceptional factors boosted growth by 1 percentage point per year in recent years and, under current trends and policies, growth is likely to drop to about 3 percent by the end of the decade. The...

This Selected Issues paper on Papua New Guinea reports that although economic cycles have generally paralleled the many mineral sector booms and busts, the downward trend in growth rates may reflect other factors. Papua New Guinea’s economy is dominated by a large labor-intensive...

This staff report on United States 2013 Article IV Consultation highlights economic policies and development. The economy grew at an annual rate of 1.8 percent in the first quarter of 2013, held down by sharp cuts in public spending, and economic indicators suggest that growth has remained weak...

This Selected Issues paper for Chile describes the postcrisis recovery experience. The recovery from the 2008–2009 global crisis has been markedly different both among advanced and emerging economies. The steady improvement in the labor wedge-distortions related to the consumption leisure...

This Selected Issues paper on Canada examines economic development and policies. Capital ratios before the crisis have been a key determinant of bank performance during the turmoil; and Canadian banks had ample capital. Specifically, most banks with critically low capital at end-2006 later...

Panama’s extensive trade and financial linkages make it vulnerable to adverse external shocks, and this would have a sizable impact on Panama’s real activity. In the absence of monetary policy, macroprudential policy tools could usefully complement microprudential tools. A...

This report examines the experiences of four European countries that have had large house-price declines in recent years. In particular, it examines the experiences of Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Spain—four countries in which the house-price cycle has been especially large and...

Non-performing loans (NPLs) were found to respond to macroeconomic conditions, such as GDP growth, unemployment, and inflation; there are also strong feedback effects from the banking system to the real economy. This suggests that the high NPLs that many CESEE countries currently face adversely...