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Abstract
This paper empirically investigates the external balance of low-income countries (LICs) by offering a coherent analysis of determinants of medium- to long-term real exchange rates, current accounts, and net foreign assets, and by emphasizing factors that are more likely to be specific to LICs.1 The rise and persistence of large external imbalances in recent years have renewed interest in this area from both empirical and theoretical perspectives, and have also highlighted the need for a multi-pronged approach to the analysis of external balances based on multiple indicators. In this paper, the simultaneous analysis of the three indicators of external balance allows the consistency of the results across indicators to be checked, an effort generally absent in the literature. The focus on LICs aims at filling another gap. Although the literature on the determinants of the real exchange rate and of the current account is vast, few contributions focus specifically on LICs, or account for features that are specific to—or more important for—this set of countries. This analysis emphasizes factors such as structural policy and institutional distortions, access to special external financing, and a larger macroeconomic sensitivity to exogenous shocks. The empirical analysis required extensive efforts to create a wide database, covering a unique set of indicators and economies.
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