This paper presents a technical note on Mexico’s Financial Sector Assessment Program update. The Mexican experience displays interesting characteristics that provide lessons for other countries that still need to design the decumulation phase of their newly established second pillars. The...

This 2007 Article IV Consultation highlights that Tonga’s real GDP growth is estimated to turn negative in FY06/07, declining by 3½ percent. The economy will continue to be subject to uncertainty and shocks. While economic growth should return to positive, albeit low, levels in the...

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 2008 Article IV Consultation highlights that Tonga’s economy has shown resilience in the aftermath of the November 2006 riots and is now on a path to recovery. The key factor underpinning this resilience has been private investment. Donor-supported government reconstruction loans are...

Honduras’s request for a Three-Year Arrangement Under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility and Interim Assistance Under the Enhanced Initiative for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries is discussed. The social consultation has allowed the government to implement a vital reform of public...

The staff report for the 2005 Article IV Consultation on the Central African Republic (CAR) highlights economic developments and performance. Revenue performance was disappointing, and there were sizable expenditure overruns, particularly on the wage bill. The authorities and IMF staff agreed on...

This paper examines Honduras’s 2005 Article IV Consultation and Second Review Under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility. In the period 1960–2000, output growth in Honduras ranked among the lowest in the region. During the 1990s, when growth recovered in the rest of Central...

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 reviews developments during 2001–02 in the Belarusian pension system, and discusses potential short- and medium-term reforms needed to put pension system finances on a sustainable path. The paper presents a short overview of demographic trends and developments...