Guyana continues to make progress in laying the foundation for poverty reduction, but at a slow pace. Critical issues remain to be addressed. Establishing an environment for sustained growth remains the main challenge for the government. It will be important to maintain the reform momentum and...

Bangladesh’s second Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper -- “Steps Towards Change: National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction II (NSAPR II)†– provides a framework for implementing the government’s agenda during FY09-FY11. First prepared by a Caretaker...

Over the last decade, a number of methodological manuals on macroeconomic datasets were produced by the international community. For a number of reasons, these manuals could be viewed as fragmented, disconnected, and branching in various directions. This paper groups by topics and broad...

This paper reviews Guyana’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) Progress Report 2004. In spite of many challenges, the government made progress in implementing its Poverty Reduction Program. In particular, it pursued prudent macroeconomic policies, which improved economic fundamentals...

The paper presents key findings of the Joint Staff Assessment of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) for Sri Lanka. Despite the country’s substantial achievements in human development and the economy’s external openness, several factors have impeded Sri Lanka’s...

This Joint Staff Assessment assesses the Economic Growth Support and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EGSPRS), which is the first full poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSP) prepared by the government of Mongolia. The EGSPRS builds on the strategy articulated in the interim report (I-PRSP) presented...

This paper describes the nature and evolution of poverty in Nigeria between 1985 and 1992. It highlights the potential wealth of the Nigerian economy and examines how the economic policies pursued in the 1980s and 1990s impacted economic growth and welfare. The headcount measure of poverty in...

The objective of this paper is to present some early experiences of poverty and social impact analysis (PSIA) from the PRGF-supported programs in the African Department. The paper illustrates that many staff country reports have taken a first step toward PSIA by making more explicit the links...

This paper presents the status report on preparatory activities for the full Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) for Sierra Leone. The governance and institutional arrangements proposed in the interim PRSP (I-PRSP) for the preparation of the full PRSP have all been set up and are currently...

This paper analyzes the effectiveness of technical assistance provided by AFRITAC West (AFW) in the area of national accounts using the Fund's Technical Assistance Information Management System (TAIMS). The challenge has been to report on "ultimate outcomes" (i.e., the production and...