Europe > Montenegro

You are looking at 1 - 4 of 4 items for :

  • Type: Journal Issue x
  • International economics x
Clear All Modify Search
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.

Abstract

This report analyses the main economic developments and achievements in the Western Balkan countries, and lays out the key macroeconomic policy challenges for the future.

International Monetary Fund
Failed corporate structures lie at the heart of Serbia’s economic difficulties. But the government emphasized instead the need for public investment and labor tax cuts. Capital inflows pose additional challenges. External concerns leave little room to fiscal maneuver. This puts the focus on public expenditure reform. Recent changes in monetary arrangements are appropriate. These steps would best be taken further—toward inflation targeting. However, the envisaged fiscal relaxation calls much of this into question. Serbia has made significant progress in recent years.
International Monetary Fund
This 2005 Article IV Consultation highlights that macroeconomic imbalances in Serbia and Montenegro widened in 2004, putting at risk some of the impressive earlier achievements. Growth, about 5 percent in nonagriculture since 2002, has been fueled by a surge in domestic demand. Lack of competitive domestic production has led to increased imports and a widening current account deficit. The main policy challenge is to maintain macroeconomic stability while accelerating structural reform. Fiscal policy needs to be tightened substantially, and its flexibility increased by reducing the large share of nondiscretionary spending.
International Monetary Fund. Research Dept.
This paper focuses on the relation of inflation to economic development. Due to the inadequacy of savings and the difficulty of directing them into productive investment, there is a strong temptation to raise the level of investment by expanding bank credit—that is, by inflation. In most low-income countries, even the most forceful measures for increasing savings and for applying them to the most urgent needs would still leave the economy with inadequate resources for the investment necessary to assure tolerable progress in raising productive efficiency and expanding production. The only way of securing adequate resources for development in such countries is by supplementing domestic savings with capital from abroad. It is characteristic of the underdeveloped countries that the resources they put into investment are generally a smaller proportion of their very much smaller national product than is true for the more highly developed countries. The proportionally low level of investment in underdeveloped countries may be due to various factors. Frequently, though not universally, the cause of inadequate investment is the unavailability of savings.