Growth in the first half of 2018 was softer than in 2017, especially in advanced economies. In contrast, growth remained robust in emerging market economies and broadly in line with expectations. After rising to 6.9 percent in 2017, growth in China continued to be strong into the first half of...

Mozambique has staged a dramatic recovery from the damage of the civil war, improving infrastructure nearly to pre-war levels; reducing poverty from 69 to 54 percent; growing the economy by 8 percent annually between 1996 and 2003; expanding the agricultural, tourism construction and manufacturing...

São Tomé and Príncipe (STP), a small island nation of 215,000 people in the Gulf ofGuinea off the coast of Central Africa, is in many ways a country of great untapped wealth. One of Africa's least known countries, its striking volcanic landscape is hometo virgin rainforests with rich...

This Country Economic Memorandum (CEM) finalized as the implementation period of the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRSP) began, undertaken in a context of other significant investigations on PRSP themes. One of the main macroeconomic variables affecting growth and competitiveness of the Senegalese...

This is the first Economic Report on Afghanistan by the World Bank in a quarter-century. It is intended to contribute to a better understanding of the core challenges that lie ahead for the country and key strategic priorities for national reconstruction. It focuses on the conceptual frameworks,...

Although the State of Ceara, in Brazil, is a model of good economic, and fiscal performance given its poverty status, recent analysis show poverty remains severe, in spite of significant reductions over the last decade. The combination of good governance, and sound fiscal management, industrial...

This paper examines Ethiopia’s 2004 Article IV Consultation and Sixth Review Under the Three-Year Arrangement Under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF). The PRGF program remains on track. All the quantitative performance criteria under the PRGF for end-March 2004, the structural...

Sound macroeconomic management, supported by structural reform, has characterized Albania's performance under the current Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) arrangement, although poverty and emigration remain pervasive. Privatization is moving forward in the telecommunications sector...

Burkina Faso's sustained adjustment effort has been supported by the IMF under successive programs since 1991. Macroeconomic performance was favorable in 1999. Monetary policy is conducted at the regional level by the Central Bank for West African States and remained prudent. In 1999 and early...