02097cas a2200253 a 4500 AALejournalIMF008024 230101c9999 xx r poo 0 0eng d 5.00 USD 9781451858341 1018-5941 BD-DhAAL BD-DhAAL Pastor Campos, Gonzalo. The Russian Financial Crisis and its Consequences for Central Asia / Gonzalo Pastor Campos, Tatiana Damjanovic. Washington, D.C. : International Monetary Fund, 2001. 1 online resource (42 pages) IMF Working Papers <strong>Off-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required <strong>On-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required Electronic access restricted to authorized BRAC University faculty, staff and students This paper reviews the economic conditions in central Asia at the time of the Russian financial crisis of August 1998; the channels by which the crisis was transmitted to the central Asian region; and the policy responses. The paper concludes that, while real exchange rates of central Asian national currencies vis-a-vis the Russian ruble have returned to their pre-crisis levels following the nominal devaluations that ensued, other indicators of external competitiveness, such as unit labor cost indices, suggest the need for further surveillance in this area. Also, it is not yet clear if full exchange rate flexibility has been established in central Asia despite the protracted and costly exits from the nominal exchange rates in place at the time of the crisis. Finally, the debt-to-GDP ratios in central Asia, which grew rapidly between 1998 and 1999 in the context of large exchange rate adjustments, remain a challenge for the Tajik and Kyrgyz authorities, in particular. Mode of access: Internet Damjanovic, Tatiana. IMF Working Papers; Working Paper ; No. 2001/169 Full text available on IMF http://elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/001/2001/169/001.2001.issue-169-en.xml IMF e-Library