This 2014 Article IV Consultation highlights that the real GDP growth of Lao People’s Democratic Republic is expected to moderate from 8 percent in 2013 to 7.5 percent in 2014. Domestic activity has slowed, and credit growth has declined from excessive levels. Inflation has declined to 3...

Over the last three years, a rapid expansion in domestic demand has dramatically widened the current account deficit in Iceland. Demand expanded faster than supply, and evidence of overheating is widespread. Monetary policy has tightened, but, until recently, the impact has been channeled...

KEY ISSUES Context: The economy is being severely tested by the Syria crisis. The refugee influx has reached one quarter of the population, fueling already high unemployment and poverty. The political impasse from the presidential elections—following months of negotiations over a new...

The global crisis, which was the worst economic and financial downturn since the Great Depression, revealed the fundamental deficiencies in the global financial system and drastically changed the way we view the world and the global financial system. The crisis challenged long-standing views and...

Without a lender of last resort financial stability is not possible and systemic financial crises get out of control. During and after the Great Reces-sion the US Federal Reserve System (Fed) and the European Central Bank (ECB) took on the role of lender of last resort in a comprehensive way....

We investigate how central bank forecasts of GDP growth evolve through time, and how they are adapted in the light of official estimates of actual GDP growth. Using data for 1988-2005, we find that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has typically adjusted its forecast for growth over the...

We argue that the European currency union (ECU) reduced the de facto monetary policy autonomy of EU countries abstaining from introducing the euro. The large share of imports from euro zone countries renders a close alignment of monetary policy to the interest rate set by the European Central...

The episode of fiscal crisis in the Euro zone has now become a recurrent theme of debate and has attracted a range of experiences regarding the nature of fiscal turmoil, its causes and effects, which vary widely across individual countries. The confidence in the European monetary system has been...

In this article, I would like to explore some of the thinking around issues in inclusive growth and development in the face of recent economic and financial crisis. We use recent articulations by a cross-section of central bankers and use this as a backdrop for the way the Reserve Bank of India...