Akhtar Hossain is a Senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of Newcastle, Australia. Currently he is working at the IMF-Singapore Regional Training Institute as International Economist. He has earned MA (1984) and Ph.D (1989) degrees in Economics from the University of Melbourne and La Trobe University, respectively, Australia. For his Ph.D research, he was awarded the 1989 La Trobe University Medal. Dr. Hossain has specialised in teaching and research in monetary and financial economics with a focus on Asian developing economics in general and the Bangladesh economy in particular. He is the author/co-author of six books, more than 30 research articles in journals and 10 chapters in edited volumes. His other publications are: Inflation, Economic Growth and the Balance of Payments in Bangladesh (Oxford University Press, Delhi and University Press Limited, Dhaka, 1995); Macroeconomic Issues and Policies: The Case of Bangladesh (Sage Publications, Delhi and University Press Limited, Dhaka, 1996); Monetary and Financial Policies in Developing Countries: Growth and Stabilisation (Routledge, London and New York, 1996), with Anis Chowdhury; In Quest of Development: The Political Economy of South Asia (University Press Limited, Dhaka, 1996) with Salim Rashid; Open-Economy Macroeconomics for Developing Countries (Edward Elgar Publishing, London and New York, 1998)