Recent financial sector crises and their resolution have raised new issues and provided additional experiences to draw on in the future. Banking sector problems in Russia, Turkey, and a few Latin American countries occurred within the context of highly dollarized economies, high levels of...

This paper reviews the "Austrian" theory of the business cycle first proposed by Friedrich Hayek in the 1920s. His theory claimed that credit creation by monetary authorities would push investment beyond society's long-term willingness to save, creating a mismatch between supply and demand that...

This paper seeks to draw lessons from the IMF’s experience in handling financial crises around the globe over the past ten years that are relevant to the challenges faced by countries in Latin America, especially in the wake of the recent crisis in Argentina. Experience suggests that...

How to entrench hard-won gains, increase resilience to shocks, and improve growth performance to reduce poverty? As Central America moves forward in regaining macroeconomic stability, these are the challenges. This study analyzes Central America’s real, fiscal, monetary, and financial...

In the aftermath of adverse supply shocks, and with further measures to promote investment, growth of production and exports is expected to recover. Efforts to remove barriers to investment and ensure a reliable provision of electricity are critical to private-sector-led growth. External...

The staff report for the Request for a Three-Year Arrangement Under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility on Georgia focuses on economic developments and policies. The fiscal situation deteriorated sharply in 2003, especially because of a weakening in expenditure management and in tax...

This paper presents the Completion Point Document for consideration of Rwanda’s Enhanced Initiative for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries. The government has maintained the policy of protecting social sector budget allocations from cuts during the course of the fiscal year, and military...

The Solomon Islands’s 2005 Article IV Consultation reports that the improvement in the economic performance registered after the arrival of the Australian-led intervention force in mid-2003 has continued. The projected deterioration in the external current account reflects...

Moldova showed reasonable macroeconomic developments. Executive Directors welcomed this development, and stressed the need to implement prudent macroeconomic policies and accelerate structural reforms to sustain growth. They encouraged fiscal and tax reforms, and urged the need to tighten...