Since the mid-1990s, the IMF has provided large financial assistance to a number of member countries affected by serious financial and exchange rate crises. Because of the unprecedented size of these packages and possible negative side effects, the desirability of such assistance has become a...

Almost seven years ago, in January 1990, the IMF approved for Poland its first stabilisation program in Eastern Europe. The Fund's role was to provide financial support to macroeconomic stabilisation in the wake of rapid liberalisation of prices, opening of foreign trade and devaluation of...

In December 1997 the Czech National Bank introduced a new framework for the conduct of monetary policy, inflation targeting. This article examines the preliminary experience with inflation targeting in the Czech Republic. In the second part, we discuss the reasons that have led the Czech...

The paper discusses the prospects for capital inflows to the Czech Republic before Economic and Monetary Union accession. It reviews the potential costs and benefits of capital flows and the history of capital flows to the Czech Republic, before turning to future capital inflows. It notes that...

In this article, I would first discuss briefly what we know about the causes of the recent financial crises, and whether the International Monetary Fund (IMF) could have done more to prevent them. I will explain what policy strategies the IMF recommended to resolve these crises, why it...