Current Account Surpluses and the Interest Rate Island in Switzerland /

This paper describes some long-run aspects of the Swiss balance of payments, highlighting two macroeconomic phenomena that make Switzerland stand out among other countries: first, it has had a persistent current account surplus and the largest ratio of net foreign assets to GDP in the world; second,...

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Dettagli Bibliografici
Autore principale: Mauro, Paolo
Natura: Periodico
Lingua:English
Pubblicazione: Washington, D.C. : International Monetary Fund, 1995.
Serie:IMF Working Papers; Working Paper ; No. 1995/024
Accesso online:Full text available on IMF
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100 1 |a Mauro, Paolo. 
245 1 0 |a Current Account Surpluses and the Interest Rate Island in Switzerland /  |c Paolo Mauro. 
264 1 |a Washington, D.C. :  |b International Monetary Fund,  |c 1995. 
300 |a 1 online resource (46 pages) 
490 1 |a IMF Working Papers 
500 |a <strong>Off-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required 
500 |a <strong>On-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required 
506 |a Electronic access restricted to authorized BRAC University faculty, staff and students 
520 3 |a This paper describes some long-run aspects of the Swiss balance of payments, highlighting two macroeconomic phenomena that make Switzerland stand out among other countries: first, it has had a persistent current account surplus and the largest ratio of net foreign assets to GDP in the world; second, its real interest rates have been significantly lower than those of most other industrialized countries, earning it the label 'interest rate island'. These two distinctive features may be related, and ultimately both may result from an excess of national savings over investment for many years. The real interest differential may largely be attributed to a foreign exchange rate risk premium, which compensates Swiss residents for holding net assets in foreign currency and foreign residents for bearing net liabilities in Swiss francs. 
538 |a Mode of access: Internet 
830 0 |a IMF Working Papers; Working Paper ;  |v No. 1995/024 
856 4 0 |z Full text available on IMF  |u http://elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/001/1995/024/001.1995.issue-024-en.xml  |z IMF e-Library