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Book The Cyclicality of Fiscal Policies in the CEMAC Region

Download or read book The Cyclicality of Fiscal Policies in the CEMAC Region written by Mr.Gaston K. Mpatswe and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2011-08-01 with total page 23 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper examines fiscal cyclicality in the CEMAC region during 1980-2008. The issue has attracted very little empirical interest but is important if fiscal policies are to play a role in mitigating external shocks that exacerbate economic cycles across the region. We assess whether fiscal policies across these six countries have been procyclical using panel data to elaborate our analysis. Like in other sub-Saharan countries, total public expenditure in the CEMAC is found to be strongly procyclical. This is most pronounced for public investment, which overreacts to output growth with elasticity above 1. We further find that institutional weaknesses and poor governance partly explain this behavior. In contrast, the existence of an IMF-supported program can be a counterbalancing influence in attenuating this bias.

Book Inflation Dynamics in the CEMAC Region

Download or read book Inflation Dynamics in the CEMAC Region written by Carlos Caceres and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2011-10-01 with total page 31 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper analyses inflation dynamics in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) using a constructed dataset for country-specific commodity price indices and panel cointegrated vector autoregressive (VAR) models. Imported commodity price shocks are significant in explaining inflation in the region. Governments are another driving force of inflation dynamics mainly through controlled prices and the role of capital expenditure in domestic activity. In most CEMAC countries, the largest effect of global food and fuel prices occurs after four or five quarters in noncore inflation and then decays substantially over time. Second-round effects are significant only in Cameroon and to a lesser extent in the Republic of Congo.

Book Flexible Fiscal Rules and Countercyclical Fiscal Policy

Download or read book Flexible Fiscal Rules and Countercyclical Fiscal Policy written by Ms.Martine Guerguil and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2016-01-22 with total page 47 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper assesses the impact of different types of flexible fiscal rules on the procyclicality of fiscal policy with propensity scores-matching techniques, thus mitigating traditional self-selection problems. It finds that not all fiscal rules have the same impact: the design matters. Specifically, investment-friendly rules reduce the procyclicality of both overall and investment spending. The effect appears stronger in bad times and when the rule is enacted at the national level. The introduction of escape clauses in fiscal rules does not seem to affect the cyclical stance of public spending. The inclusion of cyclical adjustment features in spending rules yields broadly similar results. The results are mixed for cyclically-adjusted budget balance rules: enacting the latter is associated with countercyclical movements in overall spending, but with procyclical changes in investment spending. Structural factors, such as past debt, the level of development, the volatility of terms of trade, natural resources endowment, government stability, and the legal enforcement and monitoring arrangements backing the rule also influence the link between fiscal rules and countercyclicality. The results are robust to a wide set of alternative specifications.

Book Central African Economic and Monetary Community  CEMAC

Download or read book Central African Economic and Monetary Community CEMAC written by International Monetary Fund. African Dept. and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2013-11-06 with total page 99 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper focuses on common policies for member countries of Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC). It highlights that the fiscal stance should be more cautious in some countries where policy buffers are insufficient to withstand shocks. The recent easing of monetary policy has been appropriate given the positive inflation outlook. Reserves coverage remains adequate and the real effective exchange rate is broadly in line with fundamentals but the issue of only partial repatriation of foreign exchange reserves by some member states needs be resolved. The fiscal surveillance framework should be revised to limit pro-cyclicality and better ensure long-term fiscal sustainability of oil-rich countries.

Book Why is Fiscal Policy Often Procyclical

Download or read book Why is Fiscal Policy Often Procyclical written by Alberto Alesina and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many countries, especially developing ones, follow procyclical fiscal polices, namely spending goes up (taxes go down) in booms and spending goes down (taxes go up) in recessions. We provide an explanation for this suboptimal fiscal policy based upon political distortions and incentives for less-than-benevolent government to appropriate rents. Voters have incentives similar to the "starving the Leviathan" classic argument, and demand more public goods or fewer taxes to prevent governments from appropriating rents when the economy is doing well. We test this argument against more traditional explanations based purely on borrowing constraints, with a reasonable amount of success.

Book Oil Wealth in Central Africa

Download or read book Oil Wealth in Central Africa written by Mr.Bernardin Akitoby and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2012-08-16 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite its vast oil wealth, central Africa still struggles to sustain strong, inclusive economic growth and to generate sufficient employment opportunities, particularly for its fast-growing youth population. Drawing on new research, Oil Wealth in Central Africa lays out the macroeconomic and growth challenges facing the region; examines oil wealth management and its implications for poverty reduction; and includes four case studies that exemplify lessons learned.

Book Regional Economic Outlook  April 2015  Sub Saharan Africa

Download or read book Regional Economic Outlook April 2015 Sub Saharan Africa written by International Monetary Fund. African Dept. and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2015-04-28 with total page 121 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The sharp decline in oil and other commodity prices have adversely impacted sub-Saharan Africa. Nevertheless, the region is projected to register another year of solid economic performance. In South Africa, however, growth is expected to remain lackluster, while in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone the Ebola outbreak continues to exact a heavy economic and social toll. This report also considers how sub-Saharan Africa can harness the demographic dividend from an unprecedented increase in the working age population, as well as the strength of the region's integration into global value chains.

Book Handbook of Research on Public Finance in Europe and the MENA Region

Download or read book Handbook of Research on Public Finance in Europe and the MENA Region written by Erdo?du, M. Mustafa and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2016-05-03 with total page 652 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the 1970s, globalization has created an economic environment of interdependency between nations. Now, many countries in European and the MENA (Middle East and Northern Africa) regions must grapple with the need to increase public revenue while maneuvering through a global “race-to-the-bottom” tax competition. The Handbook of Research on Public Finance in Europe and the MENA Region explores economic development and public finance by providing critical insight into the use of public finance and policy and illuminating the intricacies of these topics through discussion of theory, empirical work, and policy objectives. This book is ideally designed for business professionals, policy makers, financers, students and researchers in the fields of public policy and economics.

Book Regional Economic Outlook  April 2014  Sub Saharan Africa

Download or read book Regional Economic Outlook April 2014 Sub Saharan Africa written by International Monetary Fund and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2014-04-24 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The five Regional Economic Outlooks published biannually by the IMF cover Asia and Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Western Hemisphere. In each volume, recent economic developments and prospects for the region are discussed as a whole, as well as for specific countries. The reports include key data for countries in the region. Each report focuses on policy developments that have affected economic performance in the region, and discusses key challenges faced by policymakers. The near-term outlook, key risks, and their related policy challenges are analyzed throughout the reports, and current issues are explored, such as when and how to withdraw public interventions in financial systems globally while maintaining a still-fragile economic recovery.These indispensable surveys are the product of comprehensive intradepartmental reviews of economic developments that draw primarily on information the IMF staff gathers through consultation with member countries.

Book Regional Economic Outlook  October 2013  Sub Saharan Africa

Download or read book Regional Economic Outlook October 2013 Sub Saharan Africa written by International Monetary Fund. African Dept. and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2013-10-31 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The October 2013 Regional Economic Outlook: Sub-Saharan Africa provides a comprehensive report on the prospects for growth in the region, as well as the major risks to the outlook. Generally, growth is expected to remain strong despite a downward revision since the May 2013 report. The report analyzes drivers of growth in nonresource-rich sub-Saharan African countries, and examines the risks to frontier market economies of volatile capital flows as they become more integrated with international capital markets.

Book Regional Economic Outlook  May 2013  Sub Saharan Africa

Download or read book Regional Economic Outlook May 2013 Sub Saharan Africa written by International Monetary Fund. African Dept. and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2013-05-22 with total page 115 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Growth remained strong in the region in 2012, with regional GDP rates increasing in most countries (excluding Nigeria and South Africa). Projections point to a moderate, broad-based acceleration in growth to around 51⁄2 percent in 2013¬14, reflecting a gradually strengthening global economy and robust domestic demand. Investment in export-oriented sectors remains an important economic driver, and an agriculture rebound in drought-affected areas will also help growth. Uncertainties in the global economy are the main risk to the region’s outlook, but plausible adverse shocks would likely not have a large effect on the region’s overall performance.

Book Regional Economic Outlook  October 2011  Sub Saharan Africa

Download or read book Regional Economic Outlook October 2011 Sub Saharan Africa written by International Monetary Fund. African Dept. and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2011-10-26 with total page 117 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This year looks set to be another encouraging one for most sub-Saharan African economies. Reflecting mainly strong demand but also elevated commodity prices, the region's economy is set to expand by more than 51⁄4 percent in 2011. For 2012, the IMF staff's baseline projection is for growth to be higher at 53⁄4 percent, owing to one-off boosts to production in a number of countries. There are, however, specters at the feast: the increase in global food and fuel prices, amplified by drought affecting parts of the region, has hit the budgets of the poor and sparked rising inflation, and hesitations in the global recovery threaten to weaken export and growth prospects. The projection for 2012 for the region is highly contingent on global economic growth being sustained at about 4 percent. A further slowing of growth in advanced economies, curtailing global demand, would generate significant headwinds for the region's ongoing expansion, with more globally integrated countries likely to be most affected. Policies in the coming months need to tread a fine line between addressing the challenges that strong growth and recent exogenous shocks have engendered and warding off the adverse effects of another global downturn. In some slower-growing, mostly middle-income countries without binding financial constraints, policies should clearly remain supportive of output growth, even more so if global growth sputters. Provided the global economy experiences the currently predicted slow and steady growth, most of the region's low-income countries should focus squarely on medium-term considerations in setting fiscal policy while tightening monetary policy wherever nonfood inflation has climbed above single digits. In the event of a global downturn, subject to financing constraints, policies in these countries should focus on maintaining planned spending initiatives, while allowing automatic stabilizers to operate on the revenue side. For the region's oil exporters, better terms of trade provide a good opportunity to build up policy buffers against further price volatility.

Book Central African Economic and Monetary Community

Download or read book Central African Economic and Monetary Community written by Mr.Mario de Zamaroczy and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2018-08-03 with total page 73 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper discusses possible reserve management approaches in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC). The paper looks beyond the region’s current oil crisis and proposes a new approach to international reserve management in the medium term.

Book Improving Surveillance Across the CEMAC Region

Download or read book Improving Surveillance Across the CEMAC Region written by Ms.Misa Takebe and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2009-11-01 with total page 59 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this paper, we consider the design of the surveillance, and, in particular, the fiscal criteria in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) with the view to ensuring they are consistent with internal and external sustainability. This consistency is important within a monetary union because fiscal policy is the primary instrument through which national governments can influence macroeconomic performance. We comment on how surveillance might be improved by broadening the region's current criteria through alternative fiscal indicators, some focus on the scope and nature of external shocks, and attention to the consistency of policies in assuring the viability of the union and its fixed exchange rate regime.

Book Post crisis Fiscal Policy

Download or read book Post crisis Fiscal Policy written by Carlo Cottarelli and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2014-06-27 with total page 575 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Research and analysis underpinning the IMF's position on the evolving role of fiscal policy in both advanced and emerging economics. Fiscal policy makers have faced an extraordinarily challenging environment over the last few years. At the outset of the global financial crisis, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the first time advocated a fiscal expansion across all countries able to afford it, a seeming departure from the long-held consensus among economists that monetary policy rather than fiscal policy was the appropriate response to fluctuations in economic activity. Since then, the IMF has emphasized that the speed of fiscal adjustment should be determined by the specific circumstances in each country. Its recommendation that deficit reduction proceed steadily, but gradually, positions the IMF between the fiscal doves (who argue for postponing fiscal adjustment altogether) and the fiscal hawks (who argue for a front-loaded adjustment). This volume brings together the analysis underpinning the IMF's position on the evolving role of fiscal policy. After establishing its analytical foundation, with chapters on such topics as fiscal risk and debt dynamics, the book analyzes the buildup of fiscal vulnerabilities before the crisis, presents the policy response during the crisis, discusses the fiscal outlook and policy challenges ahead, and offers lessons learned from the crisis and its aftermath. Topics discussed include a historical view of debt accumulation; the timing, size, and composition of fiscal stimulus packages in advanced and emerging economies; the heated debate surrounding the size of fiscal multipliers and the effectiveness of fiscal policy as a countercyclical tool; coordination of fiscal and monetary policies; the sovereign debt crisis in Europe; and institutional reform aimed at fostering fiscal discipline. Contributors Ali Abbas, Nate Arnold, Aqib Aslam, Thomas Baunsgaard, Nazim Belhocine, Dora Benedek, Carlo Cottarelli, Petra Dacheva, Mark De Broeck, Xavier Debrun, Asmaa ElGanainy, Julio Escolano, Lorenzo Forni, Philip Gerson, Borja Gracia,, Martine Guerguil, Alejandro Guerson, Laura Jaramillo, Jiri Jonas, Mika Kortelainen, Manmohan Kumar, Suchitra, Kumarapathy, Douglas Laxton, Pablo Lopez-Murphy, Thornton Matheson, Jimmy McHugh, Uffe Mikkelsen, Kyung-Seol Min, Aiko Mineshima, Marialuz Moreno, John Norregaard, Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, Iva Petrova, Tigran Poghosyan, Marcos Poplawski-Ribeiro, Anna Shabunina, Andrea Schaechter, Jack Selody, Abdelhak Senhadji, Baoping Shang, Mauricio Soto, Bruno Versailles, Anke Weber, Jaejoon Woo, Li Zeng

Book Central African Economic and Monetary Community

Download or read book Central African Economic and Monetary Community written by International Monetary Fund. African Dept. and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2016-09-08 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Selected Issues paper assesses the appropriate level of international reserves for the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa. The management of the regional central bank’s (BEAC’s) international reserves is governed by monetary cooperation agreements with France. In view of current risks, it is suggested that the BEAC should define its target level of international reserves. The BEAC should have a framework that reflects fairly each member state’s contribution to the pooled reserves. The enforcement of the surrender requirement should be based on a finding of noncompliance even if the target level is achieved. The institutional framework for reserve management should also provide for the achievement of the target level.

Book Regional Economic Outlook  April 2012  Sub Saharan Africa

Download or read book Regional Economic Outlook April 2012 Sub Saharan Africa written by International Monetary Fund. African Dept. and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2012-05-17 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sub-Saharan Africa continues to record strong economic growth, despite the weaker global economic environment. Regional output rose by 5 percent in 2011, with growth set to increase slightly in 2012, helped by still-strong commodity prices, new resource exploitation, and the improved domestic conditions that have underpinned several years of solid trend growth in the region's low-income countries. But there is variation in performance across the region, with output in middle-income countries tracking more closely the global slowdown and with some sub-regions adversely affected, at least temporarily, by drought. Threats to the outlook include the risk of intensified financial stresses in the euro area spilling over into a further slowing of the global economy and the possibility of an oil price surge triggered by rising geopolitical tensions.