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 Selected Issues paper for the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is examined. Real GDP growth accelerated to 5 percent in 2007 and 6 percent in the first half of 2008, from its historical average of about 3 percent. Increased investment, partly financed by FDI, is the main driver...

Tunisia’s reliance on European countries for export earnings, tourism, remittances, and foreign direct investment inflows has remained high over the last decades. Remittances and tourism receipts have been broadly stable in percent of GDP, with somewhat more fluctuations in the latter...

This Selected Issues Paper quantifies the variability of tax elasticities in Lithuania using two alternative methods: rolling regressions and pooled mean group estimator. The analysis is motivated by the systematic variation of tax revenues observed over the economic cycle. Both methods confirm...

This Selected Issues paper is a wide-ranging survey of the conditions for, and obstacles to, the growth in Mexico. It frames the issue of Mexico’s growth record, and presents the paper’s prior assumptions and approach. It highlights the main observations and conclusions emerging...

This Selected Issues paper on Morocco analyzes Morocco’s growth performance over the past thirty-five years with a special focus on the more recent past. The paper presents stylized trends in growth; it first puts the overall growth performance of Morocco in an international perspective,...

This Selected Issues paper analyzes economic growth in Iran. It uses a growth-accounting exercise to quantify the historical sources of growth over 1960–2002, including human capital accumulation and the contribution of Total Factor Productivity to growth. The paper presents an empirical...

This Selected Issues paper for Cambodia explores the implications for long-term sustainable growth from cross-country analysis of the sources of growth. Cambodia’s low labor productivity, inadequate and expensive infrastructure, and a cumbersome regulatory environment do not bode well for...

This Selected Issues paper for Algeria analyzes the growth prospects of the Algerian economy. Drawing on the findings of the empirical growth literature, the paper combines growth accounting and cross-country growth regressions to examine the role of macroeconomic and institutional factors in...

The Islamic Republic of Iran’s 2008 Article IV Consultation underlies that the economy is showing signs of overheating owing to high oil prices and a significant policy stimulus. IMF policy advice has focused on measures to reduce inflation and structural reforms aimed at stimulating...