As undiversified commodity exporters, GCC economies are prone to pro-cyclical systemic risk in the financial system. During periods of high hydrocarbon prices, favorable economic prospects make the financial sector keen to lend, leading to higher domestic credit growth and easier access to external financing. Fiscal policy is a very important tool for macroeconomic management, but due to the significant time lags and expenditure rigidities, it has not been a flexible enough tool to prevent...

Meltdown, crisis, downturn, and the dreaded R-word: recession. These words have migrated from business sections to headline news.From barter to coins, from the origins of banking to todays credit crunch, this highly topical book explores cash, borrowing, and lending, and delves into the dark side of the global financial system.But as we teeter on the brink of a global depression, space develops for new thinking. From doing away with tax havens, putting teeth into r...

Investment in infrastructure is critical to economic growth, quality of life, poverty reduction, access to education, healthcare, and achieving many of the goals of a robust economy. But infrastructure is difficult for the public sector to get right. Public-private partnerships (PPPs) can help; they provide more efficient procurement, focus on consumer satisfaction and life cycle maintenance, and provide new sources of investment, in particular through limited recourse debt. But PPPs prese...

Value-added tax, or VAT, first introduced less than 50 years ago, is now a pivotal component of tax systems around the world. The rapid and seemingly irresistible rise of the VAT is probably the most important tax development of the latter twentieth century, and certainly the most breathtaking. Written by a team of experts from the IMF, this book examines the remarkable spread and current reach of the innovative tax and draws lessons about the design and implementation of the VAT, as experien...

Following the 15-year civil war that started in 1975, Lebanon's government began the difficult task of economic stabilization and confidence building, on the one hand, and postwar reconstruction and development, on the other. The government led the reconstruction effort by formulating programs that aimed to rapidly rehabilitate the country's severly damaged infrastructure in preparation for private-sector-led growth over the medium term. At the same time, Lebanon introduced an exchange-rat...

A payment system encompasses a set of instruments and means generally acceptable in making payments; the institutional and organizational framework governing such payments, including prudential regulation; and the operating procedures and communications network used to initiate and transmit payment information from payer to payee and to settle payments. This book, by Omotunde E.G. Johnson, with Richard K. Abrams, Jean-Marc Destresse, Tony Lybek, Nicholas Roberts, and Mark Swinburne, identifie...

Over the past decade, Indonesia has developed into an important regional and global economy, as well as an active participant in the G20. The chapters in this book document the substantial improvements in the quality of macroeconomic policy that Indonesia has achieved, while also clearly laying out an agenda of measures that should be taken to safeguard these gains and further lower vulnerabilities going forward. Rather than just demonstrating progress in key macroeconomic indicators, the ...

Kuwait has made an impressive recovery from the damage and disruptions caused by the Iraqi invasion in 1990, as evidenced by the restoration of basic economic and social services, the recovery of the oil sector, the rehabilitation of infrastructure, and the steady reduction in the fiscal and balance of payments deficits. This paper examines recent developments in the Kuwaiti economy and discusses the country's medium-term policy challenges of saving for future generations, strengthening th...

This book is a major contribution to the fledgling literature on Islamic banking and financial institutions. It offers a comprehensive and novel analysis of the interplay of Islamic and conventional banking based on new evidence pieced together from nine Muslim-majority countries. The analysis is well informed by the relevant theory and the ongoing policy debate. The book will not only be of interest to researchers and students, but also to analysts in the policy making community....

A complete guide to sovereign wealth funds written by and for industry practitionersSovereign wealth funds (SWFs) aren't new, but they are often misunderstood. As they've attracted more attention over the last decade and grown greatly in size, the need for a new and thorough resource on SWFs has never been greater. These funds will only grow more important over the coming years. In this book, expert authors who work in the industry present a comprehensive look at S...

With the steady increase of crude oil production and the surge in oil prices in the mid- and late 1970s, Oman embarked upon an economic development path that transformed it into a prosperous country. Today Oman boasts impressive physical infrastructure, much improved socioeconomic conditions, and a high standard of living. The purpose of this background study is to contribute to a better understanding of developments in the Omani economy since 1980 and of the policy challenges the governme...