Currency Board Arrangements (CBAs) operate in several post-socialist European economies as an alternative to traditional central banking. The CBA literature primarily focuses on the discipline of the fixed exchange rate, suggesting that the gain of reduced exchange rate volatility and monetary...

A currency board is a monetary regime based on an explicit commitment to exchange domestic currency for a specified foreign currency at a fixed exchange rate. Currency boards are thought to exhibit properties of money supply endogeneity and monetary self-regulation, eliminating the need for...

Currency Board Arrangements (CBAs) operate in several post-socialist European economies as an alternative to traditional central banking. The CBA literature primarily focuses on the discipline of the fixed exchange rate, suggesting that the gain of reduced exchange rate volatility and monetary...

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s (BiH) challenge is to cope with the adverse economic environment and prepare the ground for achieving sustainable export-led economic growth, raising living standards, and making progress toward EU accession. In addition to fiscal consolidation, this will require...

The currency board (Convertibility) collapsed between December 2001 and January 2002, after almost 11 years in force. The trends leading to the meltdown continued in the following months, plunging half of the population into poverty and one third into extreme poverty. Only six months later, the...

The paper compares the credibility of currency boards and (standard) pegs. Abandoning a currency board requires a time-consuming legislative process and an abolition will thus be previously expected. Therefore, a currency board solves the time inconsistency problem of monetary policy. However,...

The paper reviews exchange rate options for Mercosur countries. We start from the observation that most of the countries in the region have a longstanding tendency to adopt fixed exchange rates, and ask how such a system could best be designed. The Argentine crisis has demonstrated that...

Albania enjoyed strong growth with comparatively benign external vulnerabilities before the crisis. Monetary policy provided timely support, and the exchange rate functioned as a shock absorber. However, policy buffers are now exhausted and must be rebuilt. Fiscal tightening has to be quickly...

This Joint Staff Advisory Note focuses on the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) for Djibouti. Djibouti’s National Initiative for Social Development (“Initiative Nationale pour le Développement Social‖INDS) provides a comprehensive vision for economic growth and poverty...

The sharp global recession has been taking a toll on the St. Kitts and Nevis economy. The staff report examines the St. Kitts and Nevis 2009 Article IV Consultation and request for Emergency Natural Disaster Assistance. Economic activity has weakened markedly, particularly in tourism and foreign...