Pros and Cons of Currency Board Arrangements in the Lead-Up to EU Accession and Participation in the Euro Zone

Download or read book Pros and Cons of Currency Board Arrangements in the Lead-Up to EU Accession and Participation in the Euro Zone written by Ms.Anne Marie Gulde and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2000-02-01 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historically, countries with currency board arrangements (CBAs) have experienced lower inflation and higher growth than those with other regimes. The experiences of three candidates for EU membership with CBAs (Estonia, Lithuania, and Bulgaria) have also been generally favorable. Can CBAs serve these transition countries well all the way up to the adoption of the euro? After considering the pros and cons, this paper provides an affirmative answer, but notes that to preserve the viability of their CBAs throughout the process, these countries need to maintain strict policy discipline and be prepared to deal with large capital inflows and asymmetric shocks.