This volume presents the proceedings of a conference, moderated by V.A. Jafarey, held in Lahore, Pakistan. papers given at the seminar addressed fiscal reform, monetary reform, privatization, and trade liberalization in the context of IMF-supported adjustment programs, with emphasis on the...

This 2010 Article IV Consultation highlights that growth in Peru decelerated sharply in 2009, owing to the global financial crisis, but remained positive at about 1 percent for the year, despite a few months in negative territory. Thanks to the strong buffers built in recent years, Peru was able...

This 2002 Article IV Consultation highlights that the economy of Japan rebounded strongly in the first quarter of 2002. Global recovery underpinned a large net export contribution, while special transitory factors—including unseasonably warm weather and anomalies in the small single-family...

Jordan’s 2008 Article IV Consultation discusses the appropriate policy response to mounting fiscal and external vulnerabilities and higher inflation. Sharply higher world fuel and food prices led to a marked widening of the fiscal and external current account deficits and, more recently, a...

This 2009 Article IV Consultation highlights that Thailand has been in an investment slump since 2006. Political turmoil has led to reduced business confidence and slow private investment growth. The main engine of growth for the economy has been the export sector. The authorities have focused...

Economic growth averaged about 2.5 percent a year in the 1990s, and the structure of the economy continued to move away from agriculture as the key banana sector contracted further. Broad money has continued to grow at a slightly higher rate than nominal GDP. At the same time, commercial banks...

This 2007 Article IV Consultation highlights that boom in private consumption in Iceland was facilitated by easing household credit conditions, tax cuts, rapidly rising housing and equity wealth, and an appreciating real exchange rate. As a result, the output gap peaked at over 5 percent in...

This paper proposes an operational interpretation of the concept of economic governance. It argues that the capacity of governments to credibly ensure a secure economic environment provides an important benchmark against which governance can be evaluated. Such an environment—which is essential...

The U.S. economy is recovering from a financial crisis, but remains vulnerable to shocks. Executive Directors welcomed health care reform, fiscal stabilization, and the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) assessment, which acknowledged that the financial system has strengthened. Directors...

This paper evaluates ways to protect highly dollarized banking systems from systemic liquidity runs (such as the ones that took place recently in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay). In view of the limitations of available (private or official) insurance schemes, and the distortions introduced by...