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Books and Analytical Papers > IMF Staff Country Reports

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Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Ireland: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This Selected Issues paper provides an international perspective to the authorities’ two recent policy measures: setting up new savings and counter cyclical and climate infrastructure funds and reforming the judicial review of planning decisions in Ireland. The first essay presents international best practices in the design and operation of sovereign wealth funds that could inform the setup of the two new funds in Ireland. It highlights the importance of operating the funds within a strong fiscal policy framework. The second essay reviews Ireland’s planning and permitting system, underscoring the key elements that have hindered public investment. It also looks into the government’s proposed Bill to reform the planning system and contrasts its key features with those of other international jurisdictions. It finds that several issues may contribute to the inefficiencies in the planning and judicial review system, such as the loose standing requirements and lack of mandatory timelines related to judicial review, as well as institutional governance issues within the planning board, which the newly proposed reforms and legislative measures seek to address.
Keywords:
housing affordability; D. policy option; savings fund; modernizing judicial review; impulse response; Housing; Housing prices; Pension spending; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Botswana: Technical Assistance Report-Price Statistics
International Monetary Fund. Statistics Dept.
A technical assistance (TA) mission was conducted by the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Regional Technical Assistance Center for Southern Africa (AFS)1 during November 22–26, 2021 to continue assisting Statistics Botswana (SB) with developing the producer price index (PPI). Due to ongoing COVID-19 related travel restrictions, this mission was conducted remotely using Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, and email. Previous missions to assist with developing price indexes were held in February 2019 and October 2020.
Keywords:
topic household survey; TA provider; marketing board; staff team of the International Monetary Fund; SB management; Producer price indexes; Manufacturing; Consumer price indexes; Agricultural sector; Southern Africa; Africa
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Republic of Korea: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. Asia and Pacific Dept
This Selected Issues paper analyzes monetary policy and financial cycles; the evolution of macroprudential policies in Korea; the efficacy in prudential policies in taming financial excess and building financial resilience and; the interaction between monetary policy and macroprudential policies. Evidence for Korea suggests that financial stability will not necessarily materialize as a natural by-product of a so-called appropriate monetary policy stance. Although the effects of monetary and macroprudential instruments may overlap, they are not perfect substitutes. Macroprudential policies can also impact the banking system by affecting bank funding costs through the net interest margin. In certain circumstances borrower-based prudential measures and monetary policy can complement one another. Macroprudential policies can impact banks profitability. Policymakers should be mindful that macroprudential policy is not free of costs and that there may be trade-offs between the stability and the efficiency of financial systems.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; opt-out agreement; financial condition; tail risk financial condition outcome; labor market slack; EU limit; opt-out option; Labor markets; Macroprudential policy; Output gap; Employment; Manufacturing; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Uruguay: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. Western Hemisphere Dept.
This Selected Issues paper analyzes the sectoral trends and the impact of the real effective exchange rate (REER) changes on sectoral exports using the detailed product data from the United Nations’ Commodity Trade Statistics Database (Comtrade). This paper focuses on Uruguay’s product- and sector-specific global export market shares. It also estimates the sensitivity of these market shares to real effective exchange rate by using the product data from the Comtrade database and building on the work presented in IMF (2017). The paper estimates the elasticities of product market shares with respect to real exchange rates for Uruguay only. Rather than using time dummies to isolate the potential impact of the time trend, the lagged value of the change in shares as an additional independent variable has been added. The paper concludes that Uruguay’s manufacturing exports are sensitive to the changes in REER, and, accordingly, that productivity-enhancing measures to promote competitiveness would be beneficial.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; FX sale; FX purchase; FX intervention; commodity export; intervention data; Exchange rates; Real effective exchange rates; Manufacturing; Exports; Global; Asia and Pacific; Western Hemisphere
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Republic of Poland: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This Selected Issues papers review factors that drive wage growth in Poland and studies structural characteristics and firm-level total factor productivity (TFP) in Poland and Emerging Europe. The increase in real unit labor costs (RULC) occurred alongside an unprecedently tight labor market. The study highlights that the more subdued RULC dynamics compared with the pre-crisis period, despite the now-lower unemployment rate, may reflect the recent influx of foreign workers. In order to more systematically identify the long- and short-term drivers of Polish wages, an Error-correction model has been used. Analyses presented in the paper using both Statistics Poland and Orbis data show that foreign-owned firms are associated with strong TFP performance through above-average TFP levels and growth rates. The findings suggest the need to create an environment conducive to entrepreneurship by reducing barriers to entry and ensuring a level playing field between state owned and private firms, while also avoiding barriers to scaling up businesses while encouraging investments in innovation and research and development.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; firm; wage; share; nominal wage; wage growth; dampening effect; TFP dynamics; ownership structure; laggard firm; support wage; Total factor productivity; Wages; Real wages; Employment; Labor productivity; Global; Eastern Europe
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Barbados: 2017 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Barbados
International Monetary Fund. Western Hemisphere Dept.
This 2017 Article IV Consultation highlights that Barbados’ deficit declined to 4.4 percent of GDP in 2016, about of half that in 2014, owing to lower energy prices and a recovery in export earnings. The current account deficit is projected to continue to narrow to 3.7 percent in 2017, and to 2.9 percent of GDP in 2018 as a result of lower imports, but continued weakness in the financial account and delayed privatization will contribute to weak reserves. The fiscal deficit is estimated to have declined to 5.5 percent of GDP in FY2016/17. The IMF staff project further progress in reducing the fiscal deficit, to 4.1 percent of GDP in FY2017/18 without divestment proceeds.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; deficit; real GDP; CARTAC PFM; potential GDP growth; funding requirement; private sector credit growth; private sector credit; funding challenge; banking sector in Barbados; Non-performing loan ratio; exchange rate; credit growth; financing needs; current account; loan growth; Fiscal consolidation; International reserves; Public sector; Caribbean; Global