This Selected Issues paper reviews recent developments in growth and employment in Bulgaria and highlights key constraints to growth suggested by cross-country competitiveness studies. Bulgaria’s GDP has grown substantially since economic and financial stabilization in 1997. The global...

This Selected Issues paper highlights that the authorities in the Republic of Korea recognize the pension policy challenges ahead, and a first wave of reforms has already been launched. Despite the reforms to date, much remains to be done. Without further reforms, the public pension systems in...

This paper focuses on the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (I-PRSP) Preparation Status Report. DRC’s I-PRSP is based on three fundamental pillars, namely: peace and good governance, which are considered to be the essential condition...

The main vulnerabilities in the financial sector can be found in the banking system and the social security fund (SSNIT). The Ghanaian financial sector is also confronted by a large number of development challenges. The factual updates of Ghana’s observance of the three international...

This paper presents the Annual Progress Report (APR) 2004 on Senegal’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). The APR analyzes the 2004 macroeconomic framework for the purpose of comparing the forecasts under the various scenarios and the results obtained. Budgetary programming and...

This report provides the details of the IMF's projections and estimates of Vietnam on the summary of the tax systems; gross domestic product by expenditure categories; sector and ownership at current prices; gross domestic product by sector at constant prices during 1996–2002; consumer price...

The report provides the details of the assessment on Mongolia’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. It describes the Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EGPRS), which presents main policy directions of the government with a focus on economic growth acceleration and poverty...

This Selected Issues paper for Romania reports that the practice of nonpayment and arrears accumulation has been widespread in Romania. Managers of enterprises that remain in the pipeline for privatization for long periods of time have little incentive to reduce arrears. The state contributed to...

This paper presents the Joint Staff Assessment of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) Progress Report for Ghana. IMF staff believes that the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy overall provides a sound framework for implementing the government’s antipoverty agenda The strategy builds...

This paper examines Moldova’s Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (EGPRSP) covering 2004–06. The EGPRSP has the potential to become an effective tool for continuous strategic planning, and for providing for the prioritization of strategic objectives and the...