Fiscal decentralization has been, and remains high on the policy agenda of many countries. It is mainly driven by political pressures, which tend to be especially evident in countries with multiple ethnicities, and/or wide regional disparities in incomes or resource endowments. More generally,...

This paper presents for the approval of the Executive Board a draft borrowing agreement between Norges Bank and the Fund. On March 28, the Finance Minister of Norway announced that the Ministry of Finance and Norges Bank (the central bank of Norway) were exploring a possible Norwegian...

The recent crisis showed that price stability does not guarantee macroeconomic stability. In several countries, dangerous financial imbalances developed under low inflation and small output gaps. To ensure macroeconomic stability, policy has to include financial stability as an additional...

This paper provides background material to support the Board paper on the interaction of monetary and macroprudential policies. It analyzes the scope for and evidence on interactions between monetary and macroprudential policies. It first reviews a recent conceptual literature on interactive...

The broader governance reform debate-which goes beyond quotas to issues such as engagement by high-level policymakers, Fund management selection, Board structure, rules and accountability-has not got very far in garnering a consensus at the Executive Board. This is the case even though, in...

This paper provides case studies of 13 of the largest non-UMP countries. The case studies begin with an overview of recent macro-economic developments as well as capital flow patterns during the crisis up to the first U.S. tapering announcement in May 2013. Country experiences with capital...

This paper takes stock of unconventional monetary policies (UMP) and their impact so far, and looks ahead towards exit and prospects for policy coordination. It synthesizes earlier staff work on UMP,1 the findings of a substantial and growing academic and central banking literature, as well as...

A series of conference calls was held in March 2013 with selected representatives of central banks and other official agencies in advanced and emerging market economies to seek views on unconventional monetary policies (UMP). The key points raised during the discussions are summarized below. No...

After hiking rates 14 consecutive times between December 2021 and August 2023 to arrest above-target inflation, the Bank of England (BoE) has held rates at 5.25 percent since then. As the BoE prepares for easing, this paper examines three concurrent monetary policy questions: (a) how have the...

In response to the 2016 referendum on EU Membership and the ensuing uncertainty as to the eventual consequences of Brexit, the Bank of England (BoE) adopted various methods of influencing market rates, including conventional, unconventional monetary policy measures and communications on forward...