This Selected Issues paper examines the acceleration of inflation over the past year in Chile, identifying domestic shocks to food and energy prices as main drivers. The paper uses the Jeanne-Rancière model to calculate Chile’s optimal ratio of international reserves to GDP. It analyzes the...

This 2013 Article IV Consultation highlights that Suriname’s macroeconomic performance has strengthened markedly over the past decade. Since 2000, stronger policies and buoyant commodity prices, supported by political stability, have helped improve macroeconomic performance, enabling...

The government of Pakistan completed its second full Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP-II) in December 2008. PRSP-II builds on the first Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP-I), which was adopted in December 2003, but is shaped by recent political and economic developments. Against this...

This Technical Assistance Report on Mali discusses automatic pricing mechanism options and identifies issues that need to be addressed for the application of such a mechanism. Mali stands to benefit from moving from the current discretionary approach to fuel product pricing to a transparent and...

Ireland’s recovery has been robust. Growth is estimated at about 5 percent in 2014, although offshore manufacturing of exports appears to have made a significant contribution. The unemployment rate has declined to 10½ percent, down from a peak of 15 percent three years ago, with...

The evaluation of the anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) regime of Australia was based on the Forty Recommendations 2003 and the Eight Special Recommendations on Terrorist Financing 2001 of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and was prepared using the...

The Second Review Under the Stand-By Arrangement with St. Kitts and Nevis highlights that economic activity continued to contract in 2011 while the current account balance improved and banks remained sound. All quantitative performance criteria for end-December 2011 were met, and the structural...

This Selected Issues paper discusses the policy response by a sample of central banks to the ongoing oil and food price shocks in South Africa, drawing some lessons, which can help put in context developments in the country. The paper discusses first- and second-round effects of “supply...

This Selected Issues paper analyzes Jamaica’s experience of low growth despite consistently high investment rates. It suggests that the link between public debt and productivity is part of the answer to the puzzle. The paper considers Jamaica’s debt management strategy and its...

Political and economic uncertainties in the Central African Republic (C.A.R.) have abated, but the sociopolitical environment remains fragile. Institutional weaknesses, limited and volatile aid flows, and persistently low domestic resource mobilization have slowed the efforts and considerable...