This book, which reflects the IMF staff's work in Afghanistan from early 2002 through the first quarter of 2004, provides an overview of the institutional and economic achievements in Afghanistan in the post-Taliban period, that is, from late 2001 to early 2004. During this period, the staff...

In this study, economic developments and achievements, the role of the IMF, strong economic recovery, the formulation and implementation of the government’s budgetary policy, and the progress made in rebuilding fiscal institutions are first discussed in detail. An overview of the challenges...

This report examines the recent economic developments and prospects, and the role of the IMF in the reconstruction process for the Islamic State of Afghanistan. Since January 2002, the IMF staff has been heavily involved in assisting the Afghan authorities rebuild key economic institutions and...

This evaluation of technical assistance (TA) in statistics covers two post-conflict countries, namely, Mozambique and Rwanda during the period 2000-08. The TA, including training, covered the broad spectrum of the Statistics Department's (STA) program, including collaboration with the East...

We use new data to examine the effects of giant oilfield discoveries around the world since 1946. On average, these discoveries increase per capita oil production and oil exports by up to 50 percent. But these giant oilfield discoveries also have a dark side: they increase the incidence of...

This Paper establishes and explores the implications of a somewhat surprising empirical finding. Although civil war adversely affects the performance of social indicators in general, poorer countries lose less, in absolute and relative terms, than richer countries. It is argued that the...

Natural and agricultural resources for which there is a substantial black market, such as coca, opium, and diamonds, appear especially likely to be exploited by the parties to a civil conflict. On the other hand, these resources may also provide one of the few reliable sources of income in the...

This paper analyzes empirically the relationship between civil wars and international trade. We first show that trade destruction due to civil wars is very large and persistent and increases with the severity of the conflict. We then test the presence of two effects that trade can have on the...

This Paper studies the relationship between civil war and private investment in a poor, resource abundant country using microeconomic data for Angola. We focus on diamond mining firms and conduct an event study on the sudden end of the conflict, marked by the death of the rebel movement leader...