This paper highlights the importance of the role of the domestic tax system in determining the economic consequences of an external debt overhang. A simple taxation scheme is specified and it is shown that a country can be on the “wrong side” of its debt Laffer curve only if it is on the...

This paper empirically assesses the impact of oil price shocks on the underlying non-oil economic cycle in oil-exporting countries. Panel VAR analysis and the associated impulse responses indicate that in countries where the oil sector is large in relation to the economy, oil price changes...

This 2015 Article IV Consultation highlights that Iraq is facing a double shock emerging from the ISIS insurgency and the plunge in global oil prices. In 2014, real GDP contracted by 2.1 percent mainly owing to the impact of the conflict, while oil production and exports increased slightly...

This 2015 Article IV Consultation highlights that United Arab Emirates has continued to benefit from its perceived safe haven status and large fiscal and external buffers that have helped limit negative spillovers from lower oil prices, sluggish global growth, and volatility in emerging market...