International Monetary Fund. Middle East and Central Asia Dept.
While agricultural output suffers from yet another drought, non-agricultural
output has remained robust, and domestic demand is strengthening. Nonetheless,
unemployment has increased. Inflationary pressures have abated, allowing BAM to cut
the policy rate in June 2024. The fiscal deficit is on track to meet the 2024 budget target,
with stronger-than-expected revenues offset by increased current spending. Strong
revenues from tourism, exports of goods, and remittances have kept the current account
deficit to low levels. Morocco continues to make progress in bolstering its resilience
against climate change and seizing the opportunities from decarbonization, under the
RSF arrangement. Significant investments in water infrastructure aim at addressing water
scarcity and will need to be complemented by demand management reforms. Continued
progress toward liberalizing the electricity markets, a key dimension of the RSF, is
needed to boost private sector participation in renewable energies (RE). This will not
only help Morocco achieve its NDC targets but would also reduce its reliance on
imported fuels, improve firms’ competitiveness, and help create jobs.
This Selected Issues paper presents monetary policy analysis with a quarterly projection model (QPM) in Hungary. The standard QPM is adapted to reflect some specific features of the Hungarian economy and post-Covid set of shocks. Inflation is modelled in greater sectoral detail, including the separation of core goods and services, to capture differences in their drivers and dynamics and to model spillovers of shocks from one sector to another. Following a period of large interest rate reductions, the projections from the QPM suggest that the next phase of monetary policy normalization should proceed cautiously and more gradually. Results from the model should be used alongside other forms of analysis and expert judgement in determining the optimal path of monetary policy. Data should be watched keenly to assess the realism of the model’s projections.