After the centrally-planned economy ceased to exist, the process of post-socialist transformations has advanced significantly. The countries of the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), Southern and Eastern Europe (SEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have been involved since in...

This paper seeks to draw lessons from the IMF’s experience in handling financial crises around the globe over the past ten years that are relevant to the challenges faced by countries in Latin America, especially in the wake of the recent crisis in Argentina. Experience suggests that...

This paper examines Turkey’s 2004 Article IV Consultation and Eighth Review Under the Stand-By Arrangement and Request for Waiver of Nonobservance of Performance Criterion. Economic performance over the last three years has been impressive. For the medium term, the main challenge is to...

This paper discusses the Staff-Monitored Program (SMP) for Guinea. Agreement in principle was reached on the SMP from April 2005 to March 2006. The program would support the authorities’ efforts in restoring macroeconomic stability and establish a track record of policy implementation to...

Honduras’s Third Review under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility and Request for Waiver and Modification of Performance Criteria are discussed. The current stance of monetary and exchange rate policies are broadly appropriate, and financial sector reforms are proceeding. Progress...

This paper discusses Ex Post Assessment of Longer-Term Program Engagement for the Republic of Tajikistan. The assessment reveals that Tajikistan’s macroeconomic performance during 1998–2005 has been robust, albeit with occasional lapses. Economic growth during this period has far...

This 2003 Article IV Consultation highlights that the macroeconomic developments in the Russian Federation remained generally strong, with a third consecutive year of considerable GDP growth, fiscal surplus, and large current account surplus. The economy continues to benefit from the earlier...

Iceland’s 2005 Article IV Consultation reports that new projects have rekindled rapid growth and the economy is exhibiting signs of overheating, with imbalances evident in inflation, the current account, and external debt. GDP grew at an average rate of 3.8 percent between 1995 and 2004,...

This 2004 Article IV Consultation highlights that during the first four years of the Third Five-Year Development Plan (2000/01–2003/04), Iran’s real GDP grew by 5.6 percent on average. The external current account was in surplus, external debt was reduced to a very low level,...

Chile has successfully resisted contagion from neighboring countries difficulties. Chile's inflation targeting framework has successfully anchored inflation expectations and increased the economy's resilience to external shocks while maintaining price stability. The floating exchange rate regime...