This Selected Issues paper for the Russian Federation discusses existing empirical efforts to measure the determinants of cross-country financial integration. Empirical studies that have adopted the gravity-model framework have found that it is generally successful in explaining bilateral...

This Selected Issues paper analyses the impact that rising energy import prices might have on growth and inflation in Ukraine. The paper examines how rising gas prices might elevate macrofiscal risks in Ukraine’s state enterprise sector. It assesses Ukraine’s equilibrium exchange...

This Selected Issues paper reviews recent developments in growth and employment in Bulgaria and highlights key constraints to growth suggested by cross-country competitiveness studies. Bulgaria’s GDP has grown substantially since economic and financial stabilization in 1997. The global...

This Selected Issues paper on Chile assesses the long-term outlook of Chile’s private pension system. The paper provides an overview of Chile’s recent experience with public–private partnerships (PPPs), focusing on the design of its institutional framework. The paper...

This Selected Issues paper analyzes quality upgrading and low-wage competition for Singapore. The analysis concludes that quality upgrading is indeed taking place in some products where low-wage competitors are entering. More generally, Singapore’s exports are of a higher quality than its...

This Selected Issues paper and Statistical Appendix analyzes labor market institutions and reforms for Cyprus. The paper describes the legal and institutional framework of the Cypriot labor market, and discusses the voluntary framework for negotiations, the degree of unionization and the system...

This paper on Selected Issues was prepared by a staff team of the International Monetary Fund as background documentation for the periodic consultation with the member country. It is based on the information available at the time it was completed on October 23, 2012. The views expressed in this...

A major element of the persistent fiscal imbalances in Guinea-Bissau is the relatively low level of revenue compared with other sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Fiscal revenues, including grants, trended downward significantly in Guinea-Bissau from 1991 through 2005, especially during the...