Views on the effectiveness of sterilized reserve intervention vary. Sterilized intervention is generally seen as ineffective in advanced countries while persistent intervention by some emerging markets is often cited as contributing to undervalued exchange rates and current account surpluses....

In this paper we study the degree to which Emerging Markets (EMs) adjusted to the global liquidity crisis by drawing down their international reserves (IR). Overall, we find a mixed and complex picture. Intriguingly, only about half of the EMs depleted their IR as part of the adjustment...

Foreign exchange reserves held by central banks rose to more than 5 trillion dollars in 2006 from 1.5 trillion a decade ago and are expected to rise further in the coming years. Sovereign wealth funds manage assets in excess of 1.5 trillion dollars, and total reserves managed jointly by central...

This paper examines the degree to which the learning by doing externality [LBD] calls for an undervalued exchange rate, a policy suggested by recent empirical studies which concluded that mildly undervalued real exchange rate may enhance growth. We obtain mixed results. For an economy where LBD...

The influential Krugman-Flood-Garber (KFG) model of balance of payment crises assumes that a fixed exchange rate is abandoned if and only if international reserves reach a critical threshold value. From a positive standpoint, the KFG rule is at odds with many episodes in which the central bank...

The accumulation of large foreign asset positions by many central banks through sustained foreign exchange (FX) intervention has raised questions about its associated fiscal costs. This paper clarifies conceptual issues regarding how to measure these costs both from an ex-post and an ex-ante...

The exchange rate plays a substantial role in the monetary and financial stability frameworks of emerging market economies. We look at the motivation behind foreign exchange intervention, including a thin foreign exchange market, high passthrough and foreign exchange as a determinant of...

This paper assesses the determinants of foreign exchange (FX) reserves in emerging market economies (EMEs). First, it reviews the drivers behind reserve accumulation and the metrics used to evaluate reserve adequacy. We argue that precautionary motives, at least until early 2000s, were the main...

This aim of the present paper is to measure first, the degree of trilemma indexes: exchange rate stability, monetary independence capital account openness while taking into account the increase of hording IR ratio over GDP, over External Debt and over Short Term External Debt. The evolution of...