Central Bank participants at the BIS 2008 Open Economies Meeting in Punta del Este, Uruguay, discussed trends in apital flows since 2003 and their monetary and financial stability implications. Capital flows appear to be more benign today than in the past, partly because of a greater share of foreign direct investment and reduced reliance on foreign financing that has contributed to improvements in international investment positions (IIPs). Participants held the view that the economies in the region had become more resilient. For instance, although currency and maturity mismatches are still a concern in some countries, they appear to be less relevant today than in the past. The recent shift in the global financial environment and its regional implications were also discussed. Notwithstanding continuing concerns about risks, the impact of the financial turmoil at the time of the meeting was still limited. Indeed, there was more concern with the risks of a global slowdown than with direct financial contagion. Looking forward, a key issue is how the transition away from the benign global financing environment that characterised the world economy in this decade will unfold. The effects on the region from the global financial turmoil and the associated downturn in economic activity in advanced economies will vary from country to country, and much will depend on specific developments, such as the evolution of commodity prices. In terms of macroeconomic policies in the face of large foreign currency inflows, fiscal and prudential policies to enhance resilience were considered important. It was also believed that sovereign wealth funds could play a useful role. There was less consensus regarding capital controls. Although some argued that they could be effective in the short run, there could be costs in terms of financial market development. Views also diverged on the effectiveness of foreign exchange intervention. Participating central banks agreed that securing financial stability in small open economies required the cooperation of monetary, fiscal and prudential authorities. However, participants expressed concern about possible contagion from the recent financial turmoil operating through foreign-owned banks. In some cases, there was concern that domestic banks with large foreign refinancing needs could also become vulnerable. The document in this volume was written by Alejandro Jara and Camilo E Tovar with the technical advice of Ramon Moreno. We would like to thank all participants at the meeting for their comments and overall feedback. We are greatly indebted to Pablo Garcia-Luna and Rodrigo Mora for their excellent research assistance. Már Gudmundsson made detailed comments on the document. We hope this publication will be a useful contribution towards improving the understanding of the monetary and financial stability implications of capital flows in the region.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Publisher Info
Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML
(with abstract),
plain text
(with abstract),
BibTeX,
RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite),
ReDIF This book is provided by Bank for International Settlements in its series BIS Papers with number
43 and published in 2008.
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Timo Laurmaa).
Related research
Keywords:
Other versions of this item:
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Ramon Moreno, 2005.
"Motives for intervention,"
BIS Papers chapters,
in: Bank for International Settlements (ed.), Foreign exchange market intervention in emerging markets: motives, techniques and implications, volume 24, pages 4-18
Bank for International Settlements.
[Downloadable!]
Barry Eichengreen & Andrew K. Rose & Charles Wyplosz, 1996.
"Contagious Currency Crises,"
NBER Working Papers
5681, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
Other versions: