China's current account surplus has declined significantly from its peak in 2008 and the external position in 2018 was in line with medium-term fundamentals and desirable policies. While cyclical factors and expansionary credit and fiscal policies contributed, the trend decline has been largely...

This paper re-evaluates the US external deficit which has considerably widened over the 1990s. US safe asset provision to the rest of the world is the dominant explanation for the persistent nature of the US external deficit. We suggest that apart from the safe asset hypothesis, there is an...

Despite a substantial and prolonged exchange rate depreciation, South Africa's export performance has disappointed since the global financial crisis. In this paper we focus on the role of structural factors in reducing the responsiveness of South African exports to the real exchange rate...

Since the introduction of the euro, divergent nominal wage developments in member countries contributed to economic imbalances, prominently visible in the current account. Wages are factor costs and as such key determinants of the price competitiveness of the tradable sector and the domestic...

This Coordinated Direct Investment Survey Guide (Guide) has been prepared to assist economies participating in the Coordinated Direct Investment Survey (CDIS). The CDIS is being conducted under the auspices of the Statistics Department (STA) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) across a wide...