This 2007 Article IV Consultation highlights that Japan’s external position remains strong. Boosted by investment income, the current account surplus widened in 2006 to nearly 4 percent of Japan’s GDP, despite a shrinking trade balance. Financial outflows also picked up, reflecting mainly...

This 2007 Article IV Consultation highlights that Indonesia’s economic performance has been strong since the last Article IV Consultation. Supported by sound policies and a favorable external environment, output has grown strongly, inflation has stabilized, and international reserves have...

There is an urgent need to re-establish a viable external position through a comprehensive, swift, and sustained policy adjustment. The fiscal adjustment will need to rest on both wide-ranging tax revenue measures and substantial expenditure restraint, including a freeze of current expenditure....

This 2002 Article IV Consultation highlights that the real GDP of the United Kingdom increased at an average rate of some 2.8 percent, and the unemployment rate halved to below 5 percent by April 2001. Inflation, which has been low since the mid-1990s, was—on a harmonized basis—about 1.5...

The staff report for Bolivia’s 2009 Article IV Consultation describes economic developments and policies. The impact of the global recession on Bolivia has been milder than in other countries in the region. Lower commodity exports and remittances have resulted in a sharp narrowing of the...

Indonesia entered the current global crisis with strong initial conditions. This 2009 Article IV Consultation highlights that notwithstanding the initial impact of the global crisis, the economy has rebounded in 2009. Macroeconomic policy responses have kept appropriate pace with the evolving...

El Salvador’s 2008 Article IV Consultation examines the country's economic developments and policies. In 2007, the fiscal position improved, the public debt-to-GDP ratio declined, and economic growth reached its highest level in a decade. The rise in global commodity prices has also generated...

This 2009 Article IV Consultation highlights that economic growth in the United Kingdom has turned sharply negative since mid-2008. Housing prices have fallen by more than 20 percent from their peak, the unemployment rate has increased, and inflation has come down. In response to the crisis, the...

Switzerland has had a mixed macroeconomic performance over the past quarter century. After stagnating in the 1990s, the Swiss economy has finally shown some spark. Registered unemployment has declined sharply during the upswing and was below 2 percent in early 2001 amidst reports of increasing...

This 2001 Article IV Consultation highlights that Bangladesh’s economy became progressively more fragile after the mid-1990s owing to a persistent pursuit of expansionary fiscal and monetary policies along with slow progress on needed structural reforms, especially in the banking and...