The question of what makes fiscal decentralization work is faced by many policymakers around the world. This book draws on both the relevant literature and policy and technical advice provided by the IMF to a wide range of member countries, and discusses the key factors that help make...

This paper is part II of a two-volume study conducted as a part of the IMF's ongoing process of evaluating its lending facilities. It focuses on IMF-supported programs and macroeconomic performance during 1988-92, reflecting information available through the end of 1993. Part I (Occasional Paper...

This paper discusses the salient features of recent developments and outlines the prospects for trade policy by highlighting the main issues that will determine the scope and timing of liberalization under a possible new General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) round of multilateral trade...

This paper discusses the operations of a wide range of central banking institutions in developing countries. The considerable diversity of economic, financial, and political conditions within the Third World has brought forth a wide variety of central banking institutions. Four polar types have...

This paper analyzes the linkages between capital account liberalization and other policies influencing financial sector stability. Drawing on country experiences, the paper develops an operational framework for sequencing and coordinating capital account liberalization with other policies aimed...

The developing economies of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) have been the recipients of a considerable volume of capital inflows in the 1990s. Given the increased integration of capital markets, it is not surprising that monetary control became more difficult for many developing...

This collection of papers examines IMF-supported programs over the period 1995-2000 in both middle-income and low-income countries. In order to seek insights from a comparison across different types of programs, the sections entitled""Objectives and Outcomes,"" ""Policy Formulation and...

This paper reviews the design of and experience with IMF-supported programs formulated in response to capital account crises in the 1990s, focusing on the experiences of eight countries: Turkey (1994), Mexico (1995), Argentina (1995), Thailand (1997), Indonesia (1997), Korea (1997), the...

This chapter reports on Coordinating Group on Exchange Rate Issues' (CGER) works and provides perspectives on alternative frameworks for assessing exchange rates and the rationale for CGER's general approach. The primary motivation for the work of the CGER is to identify cases where exchange...

This chapter examines whether funds can help countries pursue good macroeconomic, and especially fiscal policies, and consequent design issues. Nonrenewable resource funds (NRF) have been suggested as a way of dealing with the effects of price variability, making it easier to put revenues aside...