Stabilization Policies and Structural Reforms in Albania Since 1997

Stabilization Policies and Structural Reforms in Albania Since 1997 PDF Author: Mr.Volker Treichel
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1451974507
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 28

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Book Description
This paper assesses the effectiveness of stabilization policies and structural reforms in Albania since 1997 and seeks to identify the remaining key challenges in various policy areas. It also draws lessons for other transition economies from the recent Albanian experience. While progress has been made toward macroeconomic stability and the establishment of a modern institutional framework, much remains to be done to enhance the sustainability of the recent favorable macroeconomic performance and reduce unemployment and poverty. Crucial areas of reform are the creation of functioning institutions, notably in the judicial field, and the establishment of a reliable supply of electricity, which has recently become an obstacle for rapid growth.

Stabilization Policies and Structural Reforms in Albania Since 1997

Stabilization Policies and Structural Reforms in Albania Since 1997 PDF Author: Mr.Volker Treichel
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1451974507
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 28

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Book Description
This paper assesses the effectiveness of stabilization policies and structural reforms in Albania since 1997 and seeks to identify the remaining key challenges in various policy areas. It also draws lessons for other transition economies from the recent Albanian experience. While progress has been made toward macroeconomic stability and the establishment of a modern institutional framework, much remains to be done to enhance the sustainability of the recent favorable macroeconomic performance and reduce unemployment and poverty. Crucial areas of reform are the creation of functioning institutions, notably in the judicial field, and the establishment of a reliable supply of electricity, which has recently become an obstacle for rapid growth.

Albania - Building Competitiveness

Albania - Building Competitiveness PDF Author: Weltbank
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Commitment to structural reforms and to economic stabilization has enabled high rates of gross domestic product (GDP) growth in Albania since the start of transition, and consequent reductions in poverty. The crisis caused by the collapse of 'pyramid' investment schemes in late 1996 and early 1997, the Government began to implement a stabilization and reform program which has resulted in rates of economic growth averaging more than five percent annually between 1998 and 2007. Strong growth has in turn made possible a 6.8 percentage point decline in the poverty headcount, a higher drop than in most countries in the (Eastern) Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region. These achievements have been underpinned by prudent fiscal and monetary policies. Budget deficits have been kept under control, declining from an average of around 10 percent of GDP in the late 1990s to less than 4 percent since 2005. In parallel, a monetary targeting regime has ensured price stability, with inflation remaining at around 3 percent in recent years. This report discusses how Albania can improve its long term competitiveness and growth by facilitating firms' ability to employ technology and skills and by closing the gap between formal regulations and actual enforcement. The second chapter sets the stage by presenting the macroeconomic setting, as well as key structural features of the Albanian economy. The third chapter provides an overview of investment climate constraints on firm performance. The crucial pillars of the investment climate that affect firm performance that is to say: (i) access to and adoption of knowledge by Albanian firms, and (ii) the gap between formal and informal regulation are treated in chapters four and five respectively. Chapter six concludes and summarizes policy recommendations.

Albania - Building Competitiveness

Albania - Building Competitiveness PDF Author: Weltbank
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Commitment to structural reforms and to economic stabilization has enabled high rates of gross domestic product (GDP) growth in Albania since the start of transition, and consequent reductions in poverty. The crisis caused by the collapse of 'pyramid' investment schemes in late 1996 and early 1997, the Government began to implement a stabilization and reform program which has resulted in rates of economic growth averaging more than five percent annually between 1998 and 2007. Strong growth has in turn made possible a 6.8 percentage point decline in the poverty headcount, a higher drop than in most countries in the (Eastern) Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region. These achievements have been underpinned by prudent fiscal and monetary policies. Budget deficits have been kept under control, declining from an average of around 10 percent of GDP in the late 1990s to less than 4 percent since 2005. In parallel, a monetary targeting regime has ensured price stability, with inflation remaining at around 3 percent in recent years. This report discusses how Albania can improve its long term competitiveness and growth by facilitating firms' ability to employ technology and skills and by closing the gap between formal regulations and actual enforcement. The second chapter sets the stage by presenting the macroeconomic setting, as well as key structural features of the Albanian economy. The third chapter provides an overview of investment climate constraints on firm performance. The crucial pillars of the investment climate that affect firm performance that is to say: (i) access to and adoption of knowledge by Albanian firms, and (ii) the gap between formal and informal regulation are treated in chapters four and five respectively. Chapter six concludes and summarizes policy recommendations.

Structural Reforms and Economic Performance in Advanced and Developing Countries

Structural Reforms and Economic Performance in Advanced and Developing Countries PDF Author: Mr.Jonathan David Ostry
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1589068181
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 62

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Book Description
This volume examines the impact on economic performance of structural policies-policies that increase the role of market forces and competition in the economy, while maintaining appropriate regulatory frameworks. The results reflect a new dataset covering reforms of domestic product markets, international trade, the domestic financial sector, and the external capital account, in 91 developed and developing countries. Among the key results of this study, the authors find that real and financial reforms (and, in particular, domestic financial liberalization, trade liberalization, and agricultural liberalization) boost income growth. However, growth effects differ significantly across alternative reform sequencing strategies: a trade-before-capital-account strategy achieves better outcomes than the reverse, or even than a "big bang"; also, liberalizing the domestic financial sector together with the external capital account is growth-enhancing, provided the economy is relatively open to international trade. Finally, relatively liberalized domestic financial sectors enhance the economy's resilience, reducing output costs from adverse terms-of-trade and interest-rate shocks; increased credit availability is one of the key mechanisms.

Fiscal Policy and Long-Term Growth

Fiscal Policy and Long-Term Growth PDF Author: International Monetary Fund
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1498344658
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
This paper explores how fiscal policy can affect medium- to long-term growth. It identifies the main channels through which fiscal policy can influence growth and distills practical lessons for policymakers. The particular mix of policy measures, however, will depend on country-specific conditions, capacities, and preferences. The paper draws on the Fund’s extensive technical assistance on fiscal reforms as well as several analytical studies, including a novel approach for country studies, a statistical analysis of growth accelerations following fiscal reforms, and simulations of an endogenous growth model.

Europe's Troubled Region

Europe's Troubled Region PDF Author: William Bartlett
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134650973
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
The breaking up of Yugoslavia hasn't been an efficient clean process to say the least. This book presents a sober comparative analysis of the economic development of the newly formed states since the break up.

On Eagle's Wings

On Eagle's Wings PDF Author: Dirk J. Bezemer
Publisher: Nova Publishers
ISBN: 9781600210723
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
This book is a contribution by a diverse group of authors from the academic, business and policy advice communities to our understanding of recent social and economic developments in Albania. The motivation for this book is that there are lessons of wider importance to be learnt from the fascinating story of recent Albanian developments. Michael Kaser opens the book with a recounting of the country's history and political economy before and during transition. He brings to the job nearly six decades of professional experience as a diplomat and academic and an intimate knowledge of Albania. This chapter provides a detailed political history during transition up to late 2004. Dirk Bezemer contributes an analysis of the collapse in early 1997 of the economy and society brought about by Ponzi schemes. He links the lack of productivity growth and the growth of a 'virtual' financial sector to policy practice focusing on macro stability and state abstinence from interfering in sectoral issues - policies which are still common in many transition and developing economies. Albania has implemented tight monetary policy, stabilised the exchange rate, implemented prudent fiscal polices, and achieved a significant reduction in domestic borrowing, all contributing to the decline of the overall deficit. Based on his expertise as an IMF analyst, Treichel discusses Albania's macroeconomic prospects. Nevila Konica documents the large Albanian emigration flows during transition, leading to an estimated ten percent of the population working outside Albanian territory. Based on her large primary survey data set, she explores personal attributes that characterise emigrants, as well as the extent of the 'brain drain'. She finds that remittances from emigration have been vitally important to Albania's economy by contributing to household incomes and reducing domestic unemployment. Klarita Gerxhani delves deeper into the nature of the informal economy and presents key insights from her original academic research based on fieldwork in Tirana. In her study of the street vending sector she traces its emergence to clear 'push' and 'pull' factors. emigration issue in the broader context of labour market developments. They analyse the large regional differences in unemployment rate, the large share of long-term unemployment and the persistently higher-than-average unemployment rate and falling participation rate for women. They also conclude that emigration reduced the pressure of unemployment in the labour market and on the government's budget, and contributed to financing imports, consumption and investments through remittances. Gloria La Cava uses her research experience as World Bank Senior Social Scientist specialising in the region to address, jointly with co-author Rafaella Nanetti, the changing socio-economic conditions that Albanians face. They focus on the nature of people's vulnerability resulting from a loss of social support during the transformation years, and on social programs addressing new needs. World Bank analyst Malcolm Childress discusses the 'unfinished business of land and property reform' in Albania. emergence of a dynamic land market and the sustained supply response which was expected. Urban property privatisation has fostered a construction boom in Tirana and along the coast and the creation of large areas of informal settlement on the outskirts of Tirana and Durres. Childress provides an insightful discussion of possible consequences. In the final chapter on agriculture, Pasquale Pazienza highlight key problems of land fragmentation and under-investment (particularly in the irrigation system), illuminating the current situation with the post-war history of agricultural and land reforms. He explores the determinants of productivity in a production function framework taking a long-term view, and draws out implication for what is still the largest sector in Albania's economy.

Reforming Infrastructure

Reforming Infrastructure PDF Author: Ioannis Nicolaos Kessides
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
Electricity, natural gas, telecommunications, railways, and water supply, are often vertically and horizontally integrated state monopolies. This results in weak services, especially in developing and transition economies, and for poor people. Common problems include low productivity, high costs, bad quality, insufficient revenue, and investment shortfalls. Many countries over the past two decades have restructured, privatized and regulated their infrastructure. This report identifies the challenges involved in this massive policy redirection. It also assesses the outcomes of these changes, as well as their distributional consequences for poor households and other disadvantaged groups. It recommends directions for future reforms and research to improve infrastructure performance, identifying pricing policies that strike a balance between economic efficiency and social equity, suggesting rules governing access to bottleneck infrastructure facilities, and proposing ways to increase poor people's access to these crucial services.

The Korean Financial Crisis of 1997—A Strategy of Financial Sector Reform

The Korean Financial Crisis of 1997—A Strategy of Financial Sector Reform PDF Author: Mr.Angel J. Ubide
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1451844646
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 67

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Book Description
After years of strong performance, Korea’s economy entered a crisis in 1997, owing largely to structural problems in its financial and corporate sectors. These problems emerged in the second half of that year, when the capital inflows that had helped finance Korea’s growth were reversed, as foreign investors—reeling from losses in other Southeast Asian economies—decided to reduce their exposure to Korea. This paper focuses on the sources of the crisis that originated in the financial sector, the measures taken to deal with it, and the evolution of key banking and financial variables in its aftermath.

Economic and Financial Crises in Emerging Market Economies

Economic and Financial Crises in Emerging Market Economies PDF Author: Martin Feldstein
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226241106
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 541

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Book Description
In the late 1990s, economic and financial crises raged through East Asia, devastating economies that had previously been considered among the strongest in the developing world. The crises eventually spread to Russia, Turkey, and Latin America, and impacted the economies of many industrialized nations as well. In today's increasingly interdependent world, finding ways to reduce the risk of future crises—and to improve the management of crises when they occur—has become an international policy challenge of paramount importance. This book rises to that challenge, presenting accessible papers and commentaries on the topic not only from leading academic economists, but also from high-ranking government officials (in both industrial and developing nations), senior policymakers at international institutions, and major financial investors. Six non-technical papers, each written by a specialist in the topic, provide essential economic background, introducing sections on exchange rate regimes, financial policies, industrial country policies, IMF stabilization policies, IMF structural programs, and creditor relations. Next, personal statements from the major players give firsthand accounts of what really went on behind the scenes during the crises, giving us a rare glimpse into how international economic policy decisions are actually made. Finally, wide-ranging discussions and debates sparked by these papers and statements are summarized at the end of each section. The result is an indispensable overview of the key issues at work in these crises, written by the people who move markets and reshape economies, and accessible to not just economists and policymakers, but also to educated general readers. Contributors: Montek S. Ahluwalia, Domingo F. Cavallo, William R. Cline, Andrew Crockett, Michael P. Dooley, Sebastian Edwards, Stanley Fischer, Arminio Fraga, Jeffrey Frankel, Jacob Frenkel, Timothy F. Geithner, Morris Goldstein, Paul Keating, Mervyn King, Anne O. Krueger, Roberto Mendoza, Frederic S. Mishkin, Guillermo Ortiz, Yung Chul Park, Nouriel Roubini, Robert Rubin, Jeffrey Sachs, Ammar Siamwalla, George Soros