Re: Imposing the US Dollar on Canada

["eperez" <eperez@xxxxxxxxx>]

You wrote:
How about offering something in the way of argument,
perhaps with specific reference to Panama, Ecuador,
El Salvador,
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El Salvador adopted dollarization under
a law which is named "Monetary Integration Law"
It provides an escape clause for the Central Bank
under the guise of open market operations.
The law can be found in english translation
at Kurt Schuler's Web Site along with an
extensive bibliography on currency boards
and dollarization. The earthquake in El Salvador
makes it very hard to judge the effects on dollarization so far.
The current debate is on fiscal policy, the tool for economic stabilization}
unbder dollarization.
In Ecuador as in El Salvador the natinal currency still circulates
(especially in the country side).
Panama has not been exempted from typical
Latin American maladies such as high external debt ratios
(currently 50% of GDP), high fiscal deficits (in the 80's) and
low growth.GDP growth per capita since 1995
is below 1%. Panama is also the Latin American country
which has had the biggest number of IMF adjustment
programmes. Since 1996 the Current account as %
of GDP reached 14% in 1998 (or 1999) and was at 9%
for 2000.


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Esteban Pérez
Economic Affairs Officer
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
United Nations
Av. Presidente Masaryk 29 12o Piso
Col. Chapultepec Morales 11570 Mexico D.F.
Phone   : 263-9681
Fax     : 531-1151
E-mail address: eperez@xxxxxxxxx
Mexico ECLAC WEBPAGE:
http://www.un.org.mx/cepal
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