The recent economic and financial developments and trends in Asia and the Pacific are examined in this latest REO, including issues related to Asia’s trade performance, notably in the high-tech sector, and the February-March bout of turbulence in the region’s financial markets. The near-term...

Asia has been hard hit by the global financial crisis. Despite strong fundamentals, its pervasive linkages to the rest of the world have exposed it to the collapse of demand and credit in advanced countries. Exports and industrial production have fallen sharply, capital has started to flow out...

KEY ISSUES Overview. Mongolia has made impressive progress in developing its economy over the past decade. Medium-term prospects remain promising given Mongolia’s large natural resource endowment, but macroeconomic policies have become unsustainably loose. The resulting balance of payments...

KEY ISSUES Context. The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) is going through a period of output fluctuations. The economy expanded in FY2012 by 3.2 percent, supported by export growth, but in FY2013 is estimated to have slowed to 0.8 percent due to the postponement of infrastructure projects....

KEY ISSUES Context: The tightening of global liquidity has increased external pressures and heightened the focus on India’s macroeconomic imbalances (high inflation, large current account and fiscal deficits) and structural weaknesses (particularly supply bottlenecks in infrastructure, power...

The five Regional Economic Outlooks published biannually by the IMF cover Asia and Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Western Hemisphere. In each volume, recent economic developments and prospects for the region are discussed as a whole, as well as for...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Context: The authorities are pursuing a wide-ranging economic reform program against a background of political liberalization. Challenges are formidable, however, as the authorities’ capacity to design and implement far-reaching reforms and absorb international assistance is...

This Selected Issues paper on Malaysia highlights quantitative assessment of additional measures required during the medium term to achieve fiscal targets. The authorities aim to lower the budget deficit to about 3 percent of GDP by 2015, down from 4.0 percent in 2013, and to balance the budget...

KEY ISSUES Context. After two years of strong performance, growth slowed down in FY2013 due to declines in construction and tourism, while inflation moderated thanks to stable international food and fuel prices. The outlook points to a modest recovery, but Palau’s heavy reliance on tourism,...

This Selected Issues paper describes Palau's fiscal challenges and policy options to achieve long-term fiscal sustainability. Palau relies heavily on compact grants, and without continued fiscal consolidation over the medium term, the fiscal position will become unsustainable after these grants...