Andrea Schaechter

Adopting Inflation Targeting; Practical Issues for Emerging Market Countries

This report on Adopting Inflation Targeting describes the trade-offs raised in the formulation of an inflation targeting framework and states the approaches to these trade-offs used by inflation targeting countries. The inherent differences discussed in this report between the six emerging market inflation targeting countries—Brazil, Chile, the Czech Republic, Israel, Poland, and South Africa—and other emerging market countries may shed some light on the preferred starting point and conditions for inflation targeting. Most central banks in emerging market countries have taken important organizational steps to enhance their capacity to apply greater judgment and foster transparency and accountability. These steps can be particularly challenging for emerging market central banks that have traditionally operated with controls and regulations and have been reluctant to communicate their policy intentions and economic outlooks. During the transition to full-fledged inflation targeting, several emerging market countries have confronted the challenge of dis-inflating to the long-run inflation objective.

Establishing Initial Conditions in Support of Inflation Targeting

This paper provides some practical advice on establishing initial conditions in support of an inflation-targeting monetary framework. These conditions are divided into four areas: a mandate in support of an inflation objective and accountability for achieving this objective; macroeconomic stability; a sufficiently well-developed and stable financial system; and effective policy implementation tools. The measures taken by countries to meet these conditions are also reviewed.

Too Much of a Good Thing? Credit Booms in Transition Economies: The Cases of Bulgaria, Romania, and Ukraine

Rapid credit growth in Bulgaria, Romania, and Ukraine has been driven by successful macroeconomic stabilization, robust growth, and capital inflows. While financial deepening is both expected and welcome, the recent expansions appear to have been excessive, as evidenced by widening current account deficits in Bulgaria and Romania, and prudential concerns in Ukraine. Policy responses have included attempts to both moderate credit growth and offset its impact on domestic demand, with mixed success thus far.

Monetary Union Among Member Countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council

The six member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)--Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates--have made important progress toward economic and financial integration, with the aim of establishing an economic and monetary union. This paper provides a detailed analysis of the economic performance and policies of the GCC countries during 1990-2002. Drawing on the lessons from the experience of selected currency and monetary unions in Africa, Europe, and the Caribbean, it assesses the potential costs and benefits of a common currency for GCC countries and also reviews the options for implementing a monetary union among these countries.

Long-Term Trends in Public Finances in the G-7 Economies

Today’s record public debt levels in most advanced economies are not only a direct fall-out from the global crisis. Public debt had ratcheted up over many decades before, when it had been used, in most of the G-7 countries, as the ultimate shock absorber—rising in bad times but not declining much in good times. Alongside, primary spending increased, particularly during 1965–85, reflecting predominantly a surge in health care and pension spending. Looking ahead, advanced economies will face the formidable challenge of reducing debt ratios at a time when ageing-related spending, in particular often underestimated pressures from health care systems, will put additional pressure on public finances. Addressing these fiscal challenges will require growth-friendly structural reforms, a fiscal strategy involving gradual but steady fiscal adjustment, stronger fiscal institutions, expenditure and revenue reforms, and an appropriate degree of burden sharing across all stakeholders.

Fiscal Rules at a Glance

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Challenges to Central Banking from Globalized Financial Systems

This publication contains a collection of papers presented at the IMFs ninth central banking conference, held in September 2002, which discuss key issues and policy challenges to the role of central banks arising from the integration of domestic and international markets and shifts in cross-border capital flows. These include determinations of exchange rates and monetary regimes, what can be done to prevent and deal decisively with financial crises, and considerations to balance monetary and financial-stability policy objectives.

Another Look at Governments’ Balance Sheets: The Role of Nonfinancial Assets

When discussing debt reduction strategies, little attention has been given to the role of governments’ nonfinancial assets. This is in part because data are scarce. Drawing on various data sources, this paper looks at the size, composition, and management of state-owned nonfinancial assets across 32 economies, with particular focus on the advanced G-20 economies. We find that reported nonfinancial assets comprise mostly structures (such as roads and buildings) and,when valued, land. These assets have increased over time, mostly due to higher property and commodity prices, and are, in large part, owned by subnational governments. Many countries have launched reforms with a view to streamlining public administrations, but receipts and savings have been rather small so far. Governments tend to consider relatively small sets of assets to be disposable, though preferences could change in the future. A potential source for future revenues could be greater reliance on user charges, such as road tolls. In most cases, a first step for more effective asset management has to be the expansion and improvement of data compilation.

A toolkit for Assessing Fiscal Vulnerabilities and Risks in Advanced Economies

This paper presents a range of tools and indicators for analyzing fiscal vulnerabilities and risks for advanced economies. The analysis covers key short-, medium- and long-term dimensions. Short-term pressures are captured by assessing (i) gross funding needs, (ii) market perceptions of default risk, and (iii) stress dependence among sovereigns. Medium- and long-term pressures are summarized by (iv) medium- and long-term budgetary adjustment needs, (v) susceptibility of debt projections to growth and interest rate shocks, and (vi) stochastic risks to medium-term debt dynamics. Aiming to cover a wide range of advanced economies and minimize data lags, has also influenced the selection of empirical methods. Due to these features, they can, for example, help inform the joint IMF-FSB Early Warning Exercise (EWE) on the fiscal dimensions of economic risks.