The recent recovery in Latin America has been impressive but also raises the question whether this represents a fundamental break with the region's history of boom-bust cycles. The paper traces how this history of macroeconomic volatility and financial crisis over the past century has adversely...

This paper presents the staff report for Peru’s 2008 Article IV Consultation, Fourth Review and Inflation Consultation under the Stand-By Arrangement and request for waiver of applicability of performance criteria. Peru has been liberalizing external trade through tariff reductions in...

The Czech Republic’s strong fundamentals helped to sustain economic growth with low unemployment and underpin strides toward convergence with EU-15. Executive Directors welcomed the euro accession strategy and the sustained implementation of the Maastricht criteria, which would provide a...

This 2013 Article IV Consultation highlights that growth in Uruguay has moderated to a more sustainable pace since 2012, mostly owing to weaker external demand. Real GDP growth is projected at 4 percent in 2013 and 3.5 percent in 2014. Fiscal policy loosened in 2012 and is set to remain slightly...

Korea’s rapid recovery from the global downturn has transitioned into a full-fledged expansion. Policies to strengthen the resilience of the economy and pave the way for sustained and equitable growth is required. Greater two-way flexibility of the exchange rate is needed to support the...

This paper discusses key findings of the Fourth Review Under the Stand-By Arrangement for Hungary. All end-September 2009 quantitative performance criteria, the continuous performance criterion on nonaccumulation of external arrears, the indicative target on central government debt, as well as...

This paper discusses key findings of the Second Review under the Stand-By Arrangement for Hungary. All end-March 2009 quantitative performance criteria and the continuous performance criterion on nonaccumulation of external arrears were met, as well as the end-March indicative target on central...

This paper highlights that central banks from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru (the LA5 countries) reaped the benefits of what they sowed in successfully weathering the global crisis. The adoption of far-reaching institutional, policy, and operational reforms during the last two decades...