•  Foreign exchange rates allowed to depreciate freely to absorb the dollar pressure  •  Foreign exchange reserves holdings allowed to decline absorbing dollar depreciation pressure  •  Most central banks have reduced policy rates to signal easing monetary policy.
This slowdown follows a very strong 2017, with the latest national accounts release showing that quarterly GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2017 stood at 0.7% quarter on quarter, the same growth rate as in the two previous quarters. A deceleration from the exceptionally high growth rates observed in the second half of 2017 had been expected.