Cuenta Corriente y Desvíos Transitorios en Términos de Intercambio y Volúmenes de Exportaciones: Chile 1985-1999

To limit the risks of a sudden stop in external financing that would jeopardize intertemporal consumption smoothing, the current account deficit should be limited to sustainable levels. However, the volatility of the terms of trade and some export volumes cause difficulties in assessing a sustainable current account level. This paper provides a "trend indicator" for the current account based on "normalized" external prices and export volumes. Thus, the exercise allows evaluating, in a simple and timely fashion, whether the deficit level is sustainable and, if not, demand adjustment measures are needed to correct it.