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Business and Economics > Finance: General

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  • Type: Journal Issue x
  • Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance: General x
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Cover IMF Working Papers
Competitiveness and Productivity in the Baltics: Common Shocks, Different Implications
Saioa Armendariz
,
Carlos de Resende
,
Alice Fan
,
Gianluigi Ferrucci
,
Bingjie Hu
,
Sadhna Naik
, and
Can Ugur
This paper examines competitiveness and productivity in the Baltics. Focusing on recent developments, it asks why Russia’s war in Ukraine led to a prolonged recession and strong decline in competitiveness in Estonia, while Latvia and Lithuania shielded their economies more effectively. The paper starts by documenting a deterioration in export performance across the region. Using a constant share decomposition, it finds that, unlike in Latvia and Lithuania, Estonia’s declining export share has been mainly linked to a reduction in the ‘intensive margin’—a sign of weakening external competitiveness and declining relative productivity. Multivariate filtering techniques and estimates of the real effective exchange rates based on historical productivity trends, consistent with Balassa-Samuelson, confirm that differences in long-term total factor productivity growth have affected external competitiveness. While Estonia’s post-GFC slowdown in productivity growth and real exchange rate appreciation have eroded its competitive edge, Latvia and Lithuania have shown greater resilience, aided by more balanced real effective exchange rates and, for Lithuania, stronger corporate balance sheets. A micro-econometric analysis further reveals that resource misallocation, particularly in the services sector, has been a key driver of declining productivity in the region. These findings underscore the need for targeted reforms to improve allocative efficiency, boost productivity, and restore competitiveness in the Baltic region.
Keywords:
Export shares; Competitiveness; Productivity; Baltics; export share; productivity in the Baltic; resource misallocation; productivity trend; TFP dynamics; TFP deceleration; Total factor productivity; Real effective exchange rates; Real exchange rates; Global
Cover External Sector Report, 2023
External Sector Report, 2023
External Rebalancing in Turbulent Times
International Monetary Fund. Research Dept.

Abstract

Global current account balances—the overall size of headline current account deficits and surpluses—widened for a third consecutive year in 2022. Main drivers were Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the uneven recovery from the pandemic, and the rapid tightening of US monetary policy. Concurrently, the US dollar appreciated substantially, and the uphill capital flow reappeared. IMF’s external sector assessments suggest that the overall size of excess current account deficits and surpluses has remained unchanged since 2021, after declining for several years. This highlights the importance of efforts in both excess surplus and deficit economies to promote external rebalancing. The US dollar appreciation under the “global dollar cycle”, which is driven primarily by global financial risks, has negative spillovers on activity and imports that fall on emerging market economies more severely than on advance economies. More flexible exchange rates and more anchored inflation expectations can mitigate negative spillovers to emerging markets.

Keywords:
Current account; Capital flows; Exchange rate; Global dollar cycle; Spillovers; External sector; dollar appreciation; dollar cycle; commodity exporter; CA deficit; CA surplus; CA gap; Real effective exchange rates; Current account balance; Emerging and frontier financial markets; Global; Africa
Cover IMF Working Papers
An Estimated DSGE Model for Integrated Policy Analysis
Kaili Chen
,
Marcin Kolasa
,
Jesper Lindé
,
Hou Wang
,
Pawel Zabczyk
, and
Ms. Jianping Zhou
We estimate a New Keynesian small open economy model which allows for foreign exchange (FX) market frictions and a potential role for FX interventions for a large set of emerging market economies (EMEs) and some inflation targeting (IT) advanced economy (AE) countries serving as a control group. Next, we use the estimated model to examine the empirical support for the view that interest rate policy may not be sufficient to stabilize output and inflation following capital outflow shocks, and the extent to which FX interventions (FXI) can improve policy tradeoffs. Our results reveal significant structural differences between AEs and EMEs—in particular FX market depth—leading to different transmission of capital outflow shocks which justifies occasional use of FXI in some EMEs in certain situations. Our analysis also highlights the critical importance of accounting for the endogeneity of FXI behavior when assessing FX market depth and policy tradeoffs associated with volatile capital flows in past episodes.
Keywords:
Integrated Policy Framework; Emerging Markets; Monetary Policy; Foreign Exchange Intervention; Endogenous Risks; Incomplete Financial Markets; Bayesian Estimation; FXI rule; outflow shock; FX market depth; FXIS impact transmission; investors portfolio outflow; Currency markets; Exchange rates; Inflation; Exchange rate adjustments; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Central Banks as Dollar Lenders of Last Resort: Implications for Regulation and Reserve Holdings
Ms. Mitali Das
,
Ms. Gita Gopinath
,
Mr. Taehoon Kim
, and
Jeremy C. Stein
This paper explores how non-U.S. central banks behave when firms in their economies engage in currency mismatch, borrowing more heavily in dollars than justified by their operating exposures. We begin by documenting that, in a panel of 53 countries, central bank holdings of dollar reserves are significantly correlated with the dollar-denominated bank borrowing of their non-financial corporate sectors, controlling for a number of known covariates of reserve accumulation. We then build a model in which the central bank can deal with private-sector mismatch, and the associated risk of a domestic financial crisis, in two ways: (i) by imposing ex ante financial regulations such as bank capital requirements; or (ii) by building a stockpile of dollar reserves that allow it to serve as an ex post dollar lender of last resort. The model highlights a novel externality: individual central banks may tend to over-accumulate dollar reserves, relative to what a global planner would choose. This is because individual central banks do not internalize that their hoarding of reserves exacerbates a global scarcity of dollar-denominated safe assets, which lowers dollar interest rates and encourages firms to increase the currency mismatch of their liabilities. Relative to the decentralized outcome, a global planner may prefer stricter financial regulation (e.g., higher bank capital requirements) and reduced holdings of dollar reserves.
Keywords:
Foreign reserves; central banks; currency mismatch; lender of last resort; financial regulation; dollar reserve; bank borrowing; post dollar lender of last resort; dollar interest rates; reserve holding; International reserves; Banking crises; Currency mismatches; Reserves accumulation; Exchange rates; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Lessons from Haiti’s Recent Exchange Rate Developments
Ms. Rina Bhattacharya
and
Mr. Neil Shenai
From August to October 2020, the Haitian authorities were successful at bringing about a sharp appreciation in the gourde/U.S. dollar exchange rate. This paper analyzes the factors behind this appreciation and its spillovers on the economy. It finds that foreign exchange surrender requirements had a statistically significant effect on the nominal exchange rate, while foreign exchange intervention by the central bank did not. Surrender requirements were also found to have raised trading costs and volatility in the foreign exchange market and contributed to the development of a wider parallel nominal exchange rate premium. This appreciation contributed to a decline in headline inflation during the episode while delivering some fuel subsidy-related savings to the government. Remittance-dependent households and exporters saw a drop in their purchasing power, and Haiti’s net external buffers were adversely affected. Following from these findings, the paper offers recommendations on ways to facilitate foreign exchange management and boost external sustainability while contributing to the central bank’s overall policy objectives.
Keywords:
Haiti foreign exchange rate; fragile state monetary policy; foreign exchange surrender requirements; foreign exchange intervention in fragile states; reserve money programming in fragile states; exchange rate development; IMF working paper 22/225; Haiti foreign exchange exchange rate; foreign exchange management; money supply; Currency markets; Nominal effective exchange rate; Exchange rates; Exchange rate arrangements; Caribbean; Global; Central America; Sub-Saharan Africa
Cover IMF Working Papers
Weather Shocks and Exchange Rate Flexibility
Mr. Selim A Elekdag
and
Maxwell Tuuli
This paper assesses the stabilization properties of fixed versus flexible exchange rate regimes and aims to answer this research question: Does greater exchange rate flexibility help an economy’s adjustment to weather shocks? To address this question, the impact of weather shocks on real per capita GDP growth is quantified under the two alternative exchange rate regimes. We find that although weather shocks are generally detrimental to per capita income growth, the impact is less severe under flexible exchange rate regimes. Moreover, the medium-term adverse growth impact of a 1 degree Celsius increase in temperature under a pegged regime is about –1.4 percentage points on average, while under a flexible regime, the impact is less than one half that amount (–0.6 percentage point). This finding bolsters the idea that exchange rate flexibility not only helps mitigate the initial impact of the shock but also promotes a faster recovery. In terms of mechanisms, our findings suggest that the depreciation of the nominal exchange rate under a flexible regime supports real export growth. In contrast to standard theoretical predictions, we find that countercyclical fiscal policy may not be effective under pegged regimes amid high debt, highlighting the importance of the policy mix and precautionary (fiscal) buffers.
Keywords:
Exchange rate regimes; Economic growth; Climate change; weather shock; growth impact; regime s; decline in government expenditure growth; peg exchange rate regime; temperature shock; government consumption growth; regime window; Exchange rate arrangements; Exchange rate flexibility; Conventional peg; Exchange rate adjustments; Emerging and frontier financial markets; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
The Return of Expansionary Austerity: Firms’ Investment Response to Fiscal Adjustments in Emerging Markets
Mr. Nicolas E Magud
and
Samuel Pienknagura
We study the response of corporate investment in Emerging Markets to unexpected fiscal shocks. We find that, although firm-level investment decreases on impact following unexpected public expenditure adjustments (classical Keynesian multiplier effect), it quickly rises above pre-shock levels. The rebound in investment is facilitated by fiscal space, flexible exchange rates, and more predictable fiscal policy. We also show that the composition of fiscal adjustments matters for investment’s response—compared to public investment adjustments, reductions in public consumption lead to larger private investment contractions on impact, but drive private investment to above pre-shock levels. Finally, we exploit firm-level heterogeneity in several dimensions, including to show that corporate investment’s recovery is stronger in firms in the tradable sector and in larger and less indebted firms, and to show that the long-run benefits to economic activity of the fiscal shock appear to outweigh its short-run costs.
Keywords:
Fiscal shocks; adjustment; corporate investment; emerging markets; firms' investment response; rebound in investment; government expenditure Forecast Error; firm level; sales growth; Fiscal consolidation; Corporate investment; Capital adequacy requirements; Middle East and Central Asia; Europe; Africa; Global; Asia and Pacific
Cover IMF Working Papers
Financial Deepening, Terms of Trade Shocks, and Growth Volatility in Low-Income Countries
Mr. Kangni R Kpodar
,
Mr. Maelan Le Goff
, and
Mr. Raju J Singh
This paper contributes to the literature by looking at the possible relevance of the structure of the financial system—whether financial intermediation is performed through banks or markets—for macroeconomic volatility, against the backdrop of increased policy attention on strengthening growth resilience. With low-income countries (LICs) being the most vulnerable to large and frequent terms of trade shocks, the paper focuses on a sample of 38 LICs over the period 1978-2012 and finds that banking sector development acts as a shock-absorber in poor countries, dampening the transmission of terms of trade shocks to growth volatility. Expanding the sample to 121 developing countries confirms this result, although this role of shock-absorber fades away as economies grow richer. Stock market development, by contrast, appears neither to be a shock-absorber nor a shock-amplifier for most economies. These findings are consistent across a range of econometric estimators, including fixed effect, system GMM and local projection estimates.
Keywords:
WP; terms of trade shock; terms of trade volatility; Banks; stock markets; terms of trade shocks; growth volatility; terms of trade fluctuation; terms of trade stock; standard deviation; shocks to growth volatility; Terms of trade; Commercial banks; Financial sector development; Credit; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Testing Shock Transmission Channels to Low-Income Developing Countries
Nina Biljanovska
and
Alexis Meyer-Cirkel
The paper examines the transmission of business cycle fluctuations and credit conditions from advanced and emerging market economies to Low-Income Developing Countries (LIDCs), using a global vector autoregressive (GVAR) framework and related countryspecific error correction models. We compile a dataset on bank credit, exports, output, and real effective exchange rate for 24 LIDCs and 16 Advanced and Emerging Markets, accounting for 74 percent of World GDP, from 1990Q1 to 2013Q4. Impulse response analyses show that business cycles in oil- and commodity-exporting, as well as frontier LIDCs are more synchronized with those in emerging market economies. Furthermore, credit conditions in the US seem to have a significant impact on exports and real economic activity in LIDCs, while these variables are basically unresponsive to credit availability in emerging markets or economies in other parts of the world.
Keywords:
WP; GVAR; Low-Income Countries; Transmission of Shocks; export demand equation; frontier LIDCs; trade export share; LICS export destination share; credit condition; output fluctuation; export partner; export series; commodity-exporting LIDCs; Credit; Exports; Emerging and frontier financial markets; Oil; Real effective exchange rates; Global
Cover IMF Research Bulletin
IMF Research Bulletin, March 2013
International Monetary Fund. Research Dept.
The Research Summaries in the March 2013 Research Bulletin discuss "Trade Finance and Its Role in the Great Trade Collapse" (JaeBin Ahn) and "Sovereign Debt: How to Track Who Is Buying and Selling It" (Serkan Arslanalp and Takahiro Tsuda). The Q&A looks at "Seven Questions on the Implications of Global Supply Chains for Real Effective Exchange Rates" (Rudolfs Bems). Readers can also find in this issue a listing of recent IMF Working Papers, Staff Discussion Notes, and Recommended Readings from IMF Publications. The Bulletin also includes a call for papers for a research conference and information on free access to the IMF Economic Review in April.
Keywords:
IRB; oil wealth management; Free Access to IMF Economic Review; IMF bookstore; Hyun song Shin; information manager; Economics category; Trade finance; Real effective exchange rates; Foreign banks; Emerging and frontier financial markets; Global; Asia and Pacific; Central Africa