The article reviews Mauritius’ developments and its macroeconomic policies for the imminent years. Growth has been flexible in these years but the postglobal crisis period did not show any remarkable developments. The country was heavily dependent on European exports and vulnerable to...

This Selected Issues Paper assesses Macedonia’s public debt markets and presents recommendations for their further development. Macedonia’s domestic debt market is in the early stages of development and is small by regional standards. The paper also analyzes the main causes of...

Iceland’s 2008 Article IV Consultation shows that the long expansion is coming to an end, exposing the economy’s overstretched private sector balance sheets, large macroeconomic imbalances, and high dependence on foreign financing. With external liquidity constraints binding,...

This paper discusses Jamaica’s First Review Under the Extended Arrangement Under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and Request for Modification of Performance Criteria. All end-June quantitative conditions and all structural benchmarks were met. The 2013/14 budget is in line with the...

This paper discusses Solomon Islands’ First Review Under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) Arrangement. The three-year arrangement under the ECF is on track. All December 2012 and continuous performance criteria have been met, except for the cash balance floor, which was temporarily...

This Selected Issues paper examines the causes of recent inflation in Ethiopia and discusses possible policy responses. Inflation in Ethiopia has reached a historical peak. Following a drought-related surge of food prices in 2003, it receded to single digits but soon turned back up in 2004 and...

This Selected Issues paper analyzes the Ukrainian business cycle. It focuses on the price of steel—Ukraine’s major export—and its relation to the economic performance. It establishes a forecasting model for steel prices, which points to downside risks to steel prices. It...

KEY ISSUES<br>Politics: President Bachelet won the Presidential election on a platform to foster<br>inclusive growth and reduce inequality. Her government took office in March 2014 and is launching <br>an ambitious policy agenda that includes important reforms in several areas, including taxation,...

GDP growth is likely to remain strong, although narrowly driven by a mining investment boom, increasing the economy’s vulnerability to terms of trade shocks. Outside the mining sector, growth is expected to be slow with still weak consumer confidence and a strong exchange rate weighing on...