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Europe > Switzerland

You are looking at 1 - 10 of 72 items for :

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Cover Policy Papers
Review of Data Provision to the Fund for Surveillance Purposes
International Monetary Fund
Data provision by member countries is a key input into the IMF’s surveillance activities. The 2024 Review of Data Provision to the Fund for Surveillance Purposes took place against the backdrop of profound shifts in the global economy, highlighting the important need for adequate macroeconomic and financial data to inform analysis and policymaking. This Review achieved a substantial, but manageable, update to the overall envelope of data that members are required to provide to the Fund in the areas of public sector, foreign exchange intervention, and macrofinancial indicators. Addressing these data gaps will reduce blind spots and support even-handedness in Fund surveillance. The Review also introduced a more structured and transparent assessment of data adequacy for surveillance. This strengthened framework will facilitate policy dialogue with the authorities on data issues and improve prioritization of capacity development efforts. Finally, the Review confirmed the long-standing practice of not applying the remedial framework when members do not provide certain data categories that the Fund considers outdated.
Keywords:
data; public sector; fiscal policy; foreign exchange intervention; swaps; repos; financial system; banks; non-banks; bilateral surveillance; multilateral surveillance; data provision; IMF data standards initiative; Fund member; data adequacy; adequacy assessment framework; Nonbank financial institutions; Credit; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Macroprudential Policies in Response to External Financial Shocks
Mr. Irineu E de Carvalho Filho
and
DingXuan Ng
This paper examines how countries use Macroprudential Policies (MaPs) to respond to external shocks such as US monetary policy surprises or fluctuations in capital flows. Constructing a model of a small open economy with financial frictions and a MaP authority that adjusts loan to value (LTV) ratio limits on borrowers and capital adequacy ratio (CAR) limits on banks, we show that using MaPs where stochastic external financial shocks are present entails a trade-off between macro-financial volatility and GDP growth. The terms of the trade-off are a function of a few country characteristics that amplify financial channels of external monetary shocks. Estimating MaP reaction functions for a panel of 41 countries in the period 2000–2017, we find that countercyclical macroprudential policy in response to surprise US monetary tightening is more likely for countries with net short currency mismatches (that is, foreign currency denominated liabilities larger than foreign currency denominated assets), consistent with the model’s predictions. The paper also finds that domestic credit and interest rates are more insulated from US monetary tightening for countries that employ MaPs countercyclically.
Keywords:
Macroprudential policy; external shocks; loan to value; figures entry; map authority; Model simulation; foreign currency; interest rate shock; bank profit; Credit; Real exchange rates; Financial statements; Bank credit; Self-employment; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Switzerland: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
Selected Issues
Keywords:
Macroprudential policy intervention; revaluation loss; stress test scenario; D. policy implication; equity investment; B. natural gas reliance in Switzerland; Mortgages; Natural gas sector; Exchange rate revaluation; Foreign assets; International investment position; Global; Europe
Cover IMF Working Papers
A Medium-Scale DSGE Model for the Integrated Policy Framework
Mr. Tobias Adrian
,
Vitor Gaspar
, and
Mr. Francis Vitek
This paper jointly analyzes the optimal conduct of monetary policy, foreign exchange intervention, fiscal policy, macroprudential policy, and capital flow management. This policy analysis is based on an estimated medium-scale dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model of the world economy, featuring a range of nominal and real rigidities, extensive macrofinancial linkages with endogenous risk, and diverse spillover transmission channels. In the pursuit of inflation and output stabilization objectives, it is optimal to adjust all policies in response to domestic and global financial cycle upturns and downturns when feasible—including foreign exchange intervention and capital flow management under some conditions—to widely varying degrees depending on the structural characteristics of the economy. The framework is applied empirically to four small open advanced and emerging market economies.
Keywords:
Monetary Policy; Foreign Exchange Intervention; Fiscal Policy; Macroprudential Policy; Capital Flow Management; Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium Model; Small Open Economy; Policy transmission mechanisms; price inflation; scenario assumption; policy rule parameter; policy rule response coefficient; Mortgages; Consumption; Foreign exchange intervention; Inflation; Capital flow management; Global; Africa
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Switzerland: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This Selected Issues paper analyzes key features of corporate taxation in Switzerland. The Swiss corporate tax system includes many aspects of a territorial regime; is highly attractive for multinational companies; and collects non-negligible revenues, but the status quo is not sustainable. The proposed reform would eliminate differences in the tax treatment of foreign and Swiss sourced income. Further, cantons are expected to lower their corporate income tax (CIT) rates, bringing the combined (municipal, cantonal, and federal) tax rate (averaged across cantons) to about 13.9 percent. Costs of lowering the CIT rates would be unequally distributed across cantons, and would be costlier for cantons with a large immobile CIT base.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; rate; exchange rate; Exchange market pressure; interest rate; aggregate mortgage lending; CIT rate; mortgage interest rates; interest rate differential; exemption threshold; Corporate income tax; Exchange rates; Personal income; Mortgages; Income and capital gains taxes; Global; Eastern Europe; Europe
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Switzerland: 2018 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Switzerland
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This 2018 Article IV Consultation highlights that the Swiss economy has adjusted to the large cumulative exchange rate appreciation that took place since the global financial crisis. After a subdued start to 2017, GDP growth accelerated to 1.1 percent in 2017, and the positive momentum continued in Q1:2018, although at a slightly reduced pace. The improved external outlook, together with the depreciation since mid-2017, are expected to energize the economy and lift GDP growth to 2.25 percent in 2018, before it gradually moderates to 1.75 percent over the medium term. Inflation is expected to increase to the upper half of the target band in 2018–19, and to subsequently revert to the mid-point.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; economy; General government debt; authority; safe-haven appreciation pressure; debt brake rule; affordability risk; headline inflation; liability positions vis-à-vis nonresident; Income; Mortgages; Corporate income tax; Inflation; Exchange rates; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
The Stabilizing Role of Net Foreign Asset Returns
Gustavo Adler
and
Mr. Daniel Garcia-Macia
With the rapid growth of countries' foreign asset and liability positions over the last two decades, financial returns on those positions ('NFA returns') have become material drivers of current accounts and net stock positions. This paper documents the relative importance of NFA return versus trade channels in driving NFA dynamics, for a sample of 52 economies over 1990-2015. While persistent trade imbalances have been a strong force leading to diverging NFA positions, NFA returns have played an important stabilizing role, mitigating NFA divergence. The stabilizing role of NFA returns primarily reflects the response of asset prices, rather than yield differentials or exchange rates. There is also evidence of heterogeneity in the speed of NFA adjustment, with emerging market economies adjusting more rapidly than advanced economies, and reserve-currency countries adjusting more slowly than others. The paper also documents the role of NFA returns as insurance against domestic and global income shocks, with a focus on reserve-currency countries.
Keywords:
WP; NFA return; net foreign assets; international investment position; valuation changes; return differential; NFA position; valuation change; NFA dynamics; Asset prices; Trade balance; Insurance; Income shocks; Exchange rates; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
International Capital Flow Pressures
Ms. Linda S. Goldberg
and
Signe Krogstrup
This paper presents a new measure of capital flow pressures in the form of a recast Exchange Market Pressure index. The measure captures pressures that materialize in actual international capital flows as well as pressures that result in exchange rate adjustments. The formulation is theory-based, relying on balance of payments equilibrium conditions and international asset portfolio considerations. Based on the modified exchange market pressure index, the paper also proposes the Global Risk Response Index, which reflects the country-specific sensitivity of capital flow pressures to measures of global risk aversion. For a large sample of countries over time, we demonstrate time variation in the effects of global risk on exchange market pressures, the evolving importance of the global factor across types of countries, and the changing risk-on or risk-off status of currencies.
Keywords:
WP; exchange rate; base currency; net capital; Exchange Market Pressure; Risk aversion; Safe haven; Capital flows; Foreign Exchange Reserves; flow pressure; capital flow pressure; outflow pressure; exchange rate elasticity; exchange rate data; reserves change; capital flow data; appreciation pressure; currency experiences appreciation pressure; capital outflow pressure; flow data; Home exchange rate depreciation; Currencies; Exchange rates; International reserves; Currency markets; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Global Trade and the Dollar
Ms. Emine Boz
,
Ms. Gita Gopinath
, and
Mikkel Plagborg-Møller
We document that the U.S. dollar exchange rate drives global trade prices and volumes. Using a newly constructed data set of bilateral price and volume indices for more than 2,500 country pairs, we establish the following facts: 1) The dollar exchange rate quantitatively dominates the bilateral exchange rate in price pass-through and trade elasticity regressions. U.S. monetary policy induced dollar fluctuations have high pass-through into bilateral import prices. 2) Bilateral non-commodities terms of trade are essentially uncorrelated with bilateral exchange rates. 3) The strength of the U.S. dollar is a key predictor of rest-of-world aggregate trade volume and consumer/producer price inflation. A 1 percent U.S. dollar appreciation against all other currencies in the world predicts a 0.6–0.8 percent decline within a year in the volume of total trade between countries in the rest of the world, controlling for the global business cycle. 4) Using a novel Bayesian semiparametric hierarchical panel data model, we estimate that the importing country’s share of imports invoiced in dollars explains 15 percent of the variance of dollar pass-through/elasticity across country pairs. Our findings strongly support the dominant currency paradigm as opposed to the traditional Mundell-Fleming pricing paradigms.
Keywords:
WP; software package; U.S. dollar; exchange rate; Bayesian semiparametrics; bilateral trade; dominant currency; exchange rate pass-through; hierarchical Bayes; panel data; trade elasticity; invoicing share; dollar pass-through; pass-through coefficient; log growth; price pass-through; Exchange rates; Currencies; Exchange rate adjustments; Import prices; Imports; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
FX Intervention in the New Keynesian Model
Zineddine Alla
,
Mr. Raphael A Espinoza
, and
Mr. Atish R. Ghosh
We develop an open economy New Keynesian Model with foreign exchange intervention in the presence of a financial accelerator mechanism. We obtain closed-form solutions for the optimal interest rate policy and FX intervention under discretionary policy, in the face of shocks to risk appetite in international capital markets. The solution shows that FX intervention can help reduce the volatility of the economy and mitigate the welfare losses associated with such shocks. We also show that, when the financial accelerator is strong, the risk of multiple equilibria (self-fulfilling currency and inflation movements) is high. We determine the conditions under which indeterminacy can occur and highlight how the use of FX intervention reinforces the central bank’s credibility and limits the risk of multiple equilibria.
Keywords:
WP; risk premium; central bank; Central bank reserves; Speculative attack; Portfolio balance model; Equilibrium determinacy; Capital flows; Capital controls; Open Economy New Keynesian Model.; FX intervention; risk premium shock; open economy; terms of trade; sterilized foreign exchange intervention; working capital; Consumption; Return on investment; Exchange rates; Inflation; Global