The founders of the Bretton Woods System sixty years ago were primarily concerned with orderly exchange rate adjustment in a world economy that was characterized by widespread restrictions on international capital mobility. In contrast, the rapid pace of financial globalization during recent...

Purpose - This paper aims to obtain a recent estimate of the cost of precautionary foreign reserve accumulation that emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) had to endure to protect themselves against the risks of financial globalization. In addition, the study estimates the cost of...

This paper critically reviews the theoretical basis for the provision of the global financial safety net (GFSN) and provide a comprehensive database covering four elements of the GFSN (foreign exchange reserves, IMF financing, central bank swap lines and regional financing arrangements) for over...

South Africa is a small open economy characterised by increasing trade and financial integration since the advent of democracy in 1994. The country's business cycle has been strongly synchronised with the rest of world, with large common shocks accounting for much of the increased...

The purpose of this article is to go back to basics of the international balance of payments to take a closer look at the roles of international reserves and related factors in the exchange rate managements of an emerging economy. It is a timely attempt because; (1) international reserves are...

The paper discusses global current account imbalances in the context of an asymmetric world monetary system and asymmetric current account developments. It identifies the US and Germany as center countries with rising/high current account deficits (US) and surpluses (Germany). These are matched...

The renminbi (RMB) has become something of a buzzword that is mentioned in all discussions, despite the fact that the currency is not convertible. In fact, there are good reasons for its notoriety. First of all, it is the currency of an economy that within only a few years has become the biggest...

This paper reviews the steps that China has taken towards financial reform with a particular focus on capital account liberalisation and internationalisation of the use of the renminbi. After a slowdown in reform momentum during the global financial crisis, there is a clear push towards reform,...

Halving the US current account deficit as a share of GDP is likely to impose a burden of $2,350 per capita on the United States, which explains why US policymakers want to postpone adjustment. The rest of the world relies on the economic stimulus of a widening US external deficit, which explains...

We evaluate the effect of exchange rate misalignments on the balance of trade and the role that global value chain participation plays in this effect for 11 new European Union member states. Using heterogeneous panel cointegration methods, we first estimate the real equilibrium exchange rate and...