This Selected Issues paper assesses The Gambia’s external competitiveness by reviewing developments in several indicators, ranging from exchange rate-based indices to survey-based assessments of the investment climate. The paper reviews the evolution of several multilateral and bilateral...

This paper surveys the foreign exchange markets, money and secondary government security markets, and stock exchanges in 107 smaller economy countries. The underdevelopment of these markets impedes risk transfer, monetary policy, corporate financing, and the capacity to absorb capital inflows....

Central America has received growing attention as a region that is integrating successfully into the global economy. This paper examines—among other things—the macroeconomic and fiscal implications of the Free Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA-DR), noting that the...

The member states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation have set as a target the achievement of an economic union by 2020. Reaching this goal will require greater levels of monetary cooperation. How should this be achieved? Data from South Asia suggest that member states have...

This paper examines the potential advantages and disadvantages of adopting a common currency arrangement among the six IMF member Pacific island countries that have their own national currency. These countries are Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu. The study...

This paper on recent developments and regional policy issues in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) discusses the recent development and trends in economic integration. Trade restrictions and an uneven application of CEMAC rules constrain external and intraregional trade....

The experiences of Caribbean Economic Community countries show that exchange rate depreciation in these countries is inflationary, and that, while changes in the relative prices of tradables may affect exports, tourism, and imports, nominal exchange rate changes have no predictable effect on...

What determines the currency to which countries peg or "anchor" their exchange rate? Data for over 100 countries between 1980 and 1998 reveal that trade network externalities are a key determinant. This implies that anchor currency choice may well be suboptimal in that certain currencies, e.g.,...

We consider the likely economic impact and prospects for monetary integration among Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation and Ukraine as part of the Single Economic Space they have agreed to set up. A monetary union among these countries poses three interesting issues for the structure and...