This paper provides background to the Board paper on Macro Policy Lessons for a Sound Design of Fiscal Decentralization. It summarizes the findings and recommendations of the Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD) for ten countries to which it provided advice on fiscal decentralization. The selected...

This paper aims to widen the prism through which Fund policy analysis is conducted for resource-rich developing countries (RRDCs). While all resource-rich economies face resource revenue exhaustibility and volatility, RRDCs face additional challenges, including lack of access to international...

Fiscal decentralization has been, and remains high on the policy agenda of many countries. It is mainly driven by political pressures, which tend to be especially evident in countries with multiple ethnicities, and/or wide regional disparities in incomes or resource endowments. More generally,...

This paper examines Sudan’s 2005 Article IV Consultation and the Final Review of the 2004 and 2005 Staff-Monitored Program (SMP). Between 2001 and 2004, the economy of Sudan grew at an average rate of 6.4 percent per year, and the non-oil sector expanded at an annual rate of 5.3 percent. The...

Owing to the high dependence of its exports on countries and commodities, Finland experienced the worst recession in the euro area. Executive Directors encouraged authorities to focus on improving bank cost efficiency, preventing excessive risk taking, and limiting liquidity and funding risks....

This 2004 Article IV Consultation highlights that Morocco’s macroeconomic conditions remained strong in 2003. Growth increased to 5.5 percent because of an exceptionally good cereal production, while non-agricultural growth showed signs of revival. Inflation was below 2 percent and the...