KEY ISSUES<br>Politics: President Bachelet won the Presidential election on a platform to foster<br>inclusive growth and reduce inequality. Her government took office in March 2014 and is launching <br>an ambitious policy agenda that includes important reforms in several areas, including taxation,...

GDP growth is likely to remain strong, although narrowly driven by a mining investment boom, increasing the economy’s vulnerability to terms of trade shocks. Outside the mining sector, growth is expected to be slow with still weak consumer confidence and a strong exchange rate weighing on...

The overarching policy challenge facing Nigeria is to reduce widespread poverty and unemployment. Macroeconomic performance was broadly positive, underpinned by buoyant international oil prices and prudent fiscal and monetary policies. The fiscal targets and the medium-term fiscal consolidation...

This 2014 Article IV Consultation highlights that the real GDP growth of Lao People’s Democratic Republic is expected to moderate from 8 percent in 2013 to 7.5 percent in 2014. Domestic activity has slowed, and credit growth has declined from excessive levels. Inflation has declined to 3...

KEY ISSUES Context: The economy is being severely tested by the Syria crisis. The refugee influx has reached one quarter of the population, fueling already high unemployment and poverty. The political impasse from the presidential elections—following months of negotiations over a new...

The global crisis, which was the worst economic and financial downturn since the Great Depression, revealed the fundamental deficiencies in the global financial system and drastically changed the way we view the world and the global financial system. The crisis challenged long-standing views and...

Without a lender of last resort financial stability is not possible and systemic financial crises get out of control. During and after the Great Reces-sion the US Federal Reserve System (Fed) and the European Central Bank (ECB) took on the role of lender of last resort in a comprehensive way....

We investigate how central bank forecasts of GDP growth evolve through time, and how they are adapted in the light of official estimates of actual GDP growth. Using data for 1988-2005, we find that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has typically adjusted its forecast for growth over the...

Relationship banking based on Okun’s ‘customer credit markets’ has important implications for monetary policy via the credit transmission channel. Studies of less-developed country (LDC) credit markets from this point of view seem to be scanty and this article attempts to...

We argue that the European currency union (ECU) reduced the de facto monetary policy autonomy of EU countries abstaining from introducing the euro. The large share of imports from euro zone countries renders a close alignment of monetary policy to the interest rate set by the European Central...