Sweden was hit by a severe macroeconomic crisis in the early 1990s. GDP fell for three consecutive years in 1991-1993, unemployment increased by 9 percentage points, banks had to be nationalized, and public budget deficits exceeded 10 percent of GDP. The recovery was however quick. GDP growth...

"The authors describe the main trends of Brazil's fiscal policy during the past decade and analyze (1) the ability to raise the primary surplus in response to external shocks, (2) the pro-cyclical nature of fiscal policy, and (3) the long-run impact of government expenditure composition and...

"The authors explore the relationship between fiscal rules and capital budgeting. The current budgetary approach to limit deficits to a fixed portion of GDP or to balance budgets could undermine incentives to invest in public capital with long-run returns since politicians concerned about...

"This paper discusses trends in fiscal adjustment in Brazil since the 1990s, with particular emphasis on the strengthening of institutions for fiscal policymaking, and its effect on local government finances and their ability to invest in infrastructure building and upgrading. Although fiscal...

Armenia's structural reforms since 1999 have led to a strong economic record, including low fiscal deficits and declining public debt over the pre-crisis decade. Between 2001 and 2008 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at an average annual rate of 12 percent and poverty fell from over 50 percent...

Guinea-Bissau's large public sector wage bill poses a major threat to the country's macroeconomic stability: it hampers growth, limits the government's ability to service the domestic and external debt, and crowds out private investments. For this reason, the government decided in early 2006 to...

Recent economic performance in The Gambia was extremely poor, and undermined efforts to implement the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). Laxity in fiscal and monetary policies, and low agricultural production resulted in low growth, high inflation, and rapid depreciation of the domestic...

This Public Expenditure Review (PER) builds on the commitments of the 2003 Country Economic Memorandum (CEM), and 2002 Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) Progress Report, being its primary objective to assess strengths and weaknesses in key areas of public expenditure, and identify policy options...

The central theme of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Fiscal Issues report, the first Public Expenditure Review conducted by the World Bank in this country, is that in order to restore rapid economic growth, ensure medium-term fiscal sustainability under the umbrella of the Eastern Caribbean...