This Selected Issues paper reviews the benefits and costs of reserves for Chile, with emphasis on standard methodologies for assessing reserve adequacy. It reports an empirical methodology that analyzes simultaneously key explanatory variables behind a country’s level of reserves. The...

This 1999 Article IV Consultation highlights that real GDP growth of Estonia slowed to 4 percent in 1998. Tighter macroeconomic policies, the decline in the stock market, and banking difficulties in the wake of the Russian crisis in August 1998 dampened domestic consumption and investment....

This paper discusses the Staff-Monitored Program (SMP) for Guinea. Agreement in principle was reached on the SMP from April 2005 to March 2006. The program would support the authorities’ efforts in restoring macroeconomic stability and establish a track record of policy implementation to...

Bulgaria's macroeconomic performance in the face of the prolonged slowdown in the EU has been impressive, but risks have intensified. The response of fiscal policy to these risks has been adequate. Plans to increase reliance on state enterprises to carry out public sector activities are...

This paper examines monetary and exchange rate policies of the euro area. The paper reviews the European Central Bank’s definition of price stability, and examines the factors determining “the optimal rate of inflation†in the euro area. It reviews the benefits of price...

This 2005 Article IV Consultation highlights that Finland’s economic performance in recent years continued to be favorable. Growth has outpaced that in the euro area and is expected to pick up to more than 3 percent in 2006. The external current account has remained comfortably in...

This Second Progress Report on Tajikistan’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) discusses key developments in the status and dynamics of poverty-related indicators in the country during 2004. Although economic growth has generated significant reductions in poverty rates in the past...

As a reflection of the vulnerability to external shocks and the importance of large projects, gross domestic product growth has showed significant variations in the second half of the 1990s. The large public sector investments that have started in 1997 included the Leeward Highway, a new ferry...

All quantitative and structural performance criteria for end-June 2003 were observed. These positive results reflect several factors, including improved public expenditure management and strengthened revenue administration (offsetting delays in some of this year's new revenue measures),...

In recent years, the IMF has released a growing number of reports and other documents covering economic and financial developments and trends in member countries. Each report, prepared by a staff team after discussions with government officials, is published at the option of the member country.