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Western Hemisphere > Dominica

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Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Republic of Latvia: Second Review and Financing Assurances Review Under the Stand-By Arrangement, Request for Extension of the Arrangement and Rephasing of Purchases Under the Arrangement and Request for Waiver of Nonobservance and Applicability of Performance Criteria
International Monetary Fund
This paper discusses key findings of the Second Review and Financing Assurances Review Under the Stand-By Arrangement for Latvia. The sharp economic downturn is starting to bottom out, although recovery has not yet begun. The authorities have implemented the June 2009 supplementary budget, and met with a wide margin the end-September performance criterion on the adjusted primary balance. The continuous performance criterion on external payments arrears was missed by a small amount, which the authorities expect to resolve soon.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; GDP; government liquidity support; end-December performance criterion; financial market condition; Latvia; IMF's support; IMF's financial support; Fiscal stance; Loans; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Caribbean Bananas: The Macroeconomic Impact of Trade Preference Erosion
Mr. Paul Cashin
,
Mr. Montfort Mlachila
, and
Cleary Haines
This paper examines the macroeconomic effects of the erosion of trade preferences, with a focus on the export of Caribbean bananas to Europe. Estimates are made of the magnitude of implicit assistance provided over a period of three decades to eastern Caribbean countries through banana trade preferences. The value of such assistance rose until the early 1990s, and has declined precipitously since then. Using vector autoregressive analysis, the paper finds that changes in the level of implicit assistance have had a considerable macroeconomic impact, especially on Caribbean real GDP growth.
Keywords:
WP; trade preference; EU banana regime; real GDP; country authorities; EU export unit value
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Dominica: Request for Disbursement Under the Rapid-Access Component of the Exogenous Shocks Facility-Staff Report; Press Release on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for Dominica.
International Monetary Fund
This staff report highlights Dominica’s Request for Disbursement Under the Rapid-Access Component of the Exogenous Shocks Facility. Although macroeconomic policy has been prudent and well-oriented, it is important to maintain the reform momentum. In this context, the key policy challenges facing the authorities are to stem the decline in economic activity resulting from the global downturn and to maintain a sustainable fiscal stance given the high public debt, and to improve competitiveness and reduce vulnerabilities to exogenous shocks.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; FDI inflow; executive board discussion; authority; debt ratio; rehabilitation effort; government of Dominica; authorities' response; Public sector; Fiscal stance; Credit; Global; Caribbean
Cover IMF Working Papers
Fiscal Cycles in the Caribbean
The sharp increase in debt in the Caribbean since the mid-1990s has focused attention on the conduct of fiscal policy in the region. This paper aims to diagnose how fiscal policy has behaved during this period by looking at three main cycles of the economy: the business, election, and natural disaster cycles. Our main findings suggest that fiscal policy has been mostly procyclical in the region, while disasters have been heavily "insured" by foreign transfers. The "when it rains, it pours" phenomena suggested by Kaminsky, Reinhart and Vegh (2004) seems to take place in the Caribbean.
Keywords:
WP; government; ECCU country; Procyclicality; fiscal accounts; natural disasters; Caribbean; ECCU economy; ECCU value; government consumption growth; capital revenue; Fiscal stance; Business cycles
Cover IMF Working Papers
Macroeconomic Fluctuations in the Caribbean: The Role of Climatic and External Shocks
Mr. Sebastian Sosa
and
Mr. Paul Cashin
This paper develops country-specific VAR models with block exogeneity restrictions to analyze how exogenous factors affect business cycles in the Eastern Caribbean. It finds that external shocks play a key role, explaining more than half of macroeconomic fluctuations in the region. Domestic business cycles are especially vulnerable to changes in climatic conditions, with a natural disaster leading to an immediate and significant fall in output-but the effects do not appear to be persistent. Oil price and external demand shocks also contribute significantly to domestic macroeconomic fluctuations. An increase in oil prices (external demand) is contractionary (expansionary), and the effects dissipate up to three years after the shock.
Keywords:
WP; external shock; economy; real interest rate; output fluctuation; open economy; Business cycle; external shocks; VAR; block exogeneity; Eastern Caribbean; oil price shock; ECCU country; economy block; world real interest rate shock; Real interest rates; Oil prices; Natural disasters; Business cycles; Vector autoregression; Caribbean; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Eastern Caribbean Currency Union: 2009 Discussion on Common Policies of Members Countries: Staff Report; and Public Information Notice on the Executive Board Discussion
International Monetary Fund
The Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) countries financial system has increasingly come under stress particularly through weakly supervised nonbank and offshore financial sectors with knock-on effects to domestic banks. The staff report focuses on ECCU’s 2009 discussion on common policies of member countries on economic development and policies. In response, ECCU authorities have accelerated the establishment of national Single Regulatory Units and the passage of harmonized legislation to strengthen then regulation and supervision of nonbanks and offshore institutions.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; deficit; OECS-Education Development Project; Grenada; asset; ECCU country; ECCU aggregate; core area; ECCU member; banking system; CARTAC program; Commercial banks; Credit; Caribbean; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Eastern Caribbean Currency Union: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund
The Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) countries’ economies are heavily dependent on the United States for foreign direct investment, mainly in the tourism sector. The Selected Issues paper discusses economic development and policies of the ECCU. About one-third of the stayover tourists to the ECCU countries are from the United States., the top tourist-source country. The flow of remittances is also an important channel of influence, reflecting the significant proportion of Caribbean migrants living in the United States.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; ECCU economy; ECCU country; ECCB reserves; founder business personality; Ponzi scheme; Real exchange rates; Natural disasters; Insurance; Caribbean
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
St. Vincent and the Grenadines: 2007 Article IV Consultation: Staff Report; Staff Supplement and Statement; Public Information Notice on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for St. Vincent and the Grenadines
International Monetary Fund
This 2007 Article IV Consultation highlights that the economy of St. Vincent and the Grenadines is enjoying its second year of vigorous economic growth. Financial sector indicators have strengthened, but balance sheet vulnerabilities remain. Executive Directors have welcomed St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ recent strong macroeconomic performance, marked by robust economic growth, fiscal consolidation, and declining debt levels. Directors have also stressed that continued fiscal consolidation is needed to lower the public debt-to-GDP ratio, and create room to raise social spending.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; debt; staff estimate column; budget; NPV; estimate; authorities of St. Vincent and the Grenadines; budget assumption; fund staff estimate; grant receipt; Capital spending; Debt service; Caribbean; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Universal Health Care 101: Lessons for the Eastern Caribbean and Beyond
Ms. Evridiki Tsounta
Despite the increasing interest in universal health care, little is known about the optimal way to finance, design, and implement it. This paper attempts to fill this gap by providing some general policy recommendations on this important issue. While most of the paper addresses the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) countries, its policy implications are applicable to any country. The paper finds that the best financing option is country-specific depending on a country’s economic, cultural, institutional, demographic and epidemiological characteristics, as well as political economy considerations. However, taxation should be the primary financing source. It also concludes that an appropriate and realistic benefit package would need to be designed to ensure the system’s financial viability. Regarding the optimal way to implement universal health care, certain preconditions are needed, including sound public administration, a small informal economy, and a transparent health financing system that builds social consensus.
Keywords:
WP; health cost; health system; government Health spending; health financing goal; country authorities; Health economics; government expenditure; financing system; health financing; ECCU country; ECCU health system; health card; health outcome; health system attainment; health affair; health system performance; Health care spending; Health care; Social security contributions; Aging; Caribbean
Cover IMF Working Papers
Can the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union Afford to Grow Old?
Mr. Hunter K Monroe
The demographic transition in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) now underway is rapid compared with international experience, and emigration is playing a particularly large role. This paper describes and quantifies several factors which could magnify the challenge of pension reform. First, for some ECCU countries, continued emigration at historical rates would considerably advance the projected date at which pension scheme assets are depleted. Second, there is a significant risk that assets will underperform, given the large exposures to the highly-leveraged public sector and to a lesser extent the record with private sector investments. Third, portfolio diversification away from the public sector could be complicated by age-related pressure for greater central government health spending.
Keywords:
WP; ECCU emigration rate; rate; ECCU member; OECD census data; ECCU pension reform; Pension systems; migration; ECCU pension schemes; Pensions; Pension spending; Public sector; Health care spending; Caribbean