This essay reflects the thoughts and experience of two staff members. Mark Allen has been a resident representative in both Poland (1990-93) and Hungary (1996-1998), two countries that have moved well along the road of transformation. Rick Haas was the resident representative in Belarus...

The paper lays out an analytical framework for understanding crises in emerging markets based on examination of stock variables in the aggregate balance sheet of a country and the balance sheets of its main sectors (assets and liabilities). It focuses on the risks created by maturity, currency,...

This essay reflects the thoughts and experience of two staff members. Mark Allen has been a resident representative in both Poland (1990-93) and Hungary (1996-1998), two countries that have moved well along the road of transformation. Rick Haas was the resident representative in Belarus...

The paper describes in broad outline the roles of money and foreign trade in the unreformed centrally planned economy. It describes how money used by enterprises performed a different function and was isolated from that used by consumers, and how each was shielded from foreign influences. The...

The paper shows how the physical process of adjustment in planned economies is reflected in financial variables. If the domestic supply and demand balance is improved, the balance of income and expenditure will show corresponding changes. The paper traces the interrelationship between the real...

The financial crisis and recession have left a legacy of unusually large fiscal deficits and growing sovereign debt levels in most advanced economies. The paper uses recent research from the IMF to throw light on two questions: how much fiscal space is available to advanced countries before they...

This papers reviews the common challenges and key issues in the transition process, including the decline in output and determinants of future growth; the behavior of inflation and velocity and implications for stabilization policy; interenterprise arrears; fixed versus flexible exchange rates...