The government’s strong monetary and fiscal policy framework, as well as the structural reforms introduced, have enabled the Canadian economy to respond flexibly to recent shocks and laid a solid foundation for recovery. Macroeconomic policies should remain supportive, with fiscal policy...

Iraq’s 2005 Article IV Consultation reports that there has been a marked deterioration in Iraq’s human development indicators over the last twenty years. There is relatively little firm data on the balance of payments other than on oil exports, government imports of goods and...

This Selected Issues paper examines the long-term issues with pension expenditures in the Netherlands. The paper highlights that the public pension for a single person is equal to 70 percent of the (statutory) minimum wage. The minimum wage and public pensions thus move in lock-step; they are...

This Selected Issues paper focuses on policies to promote high, sustainable growth in Peru, the risks posed by dollarization, and key medium-term fiscal issues of decentralization and social security reform. The paper identifies the main impediments to output and employment growth and proposes...

This Selected Issues and Statistical Appendix paper reviews the path of Papua New Guinea’s external debt over the last decade. It explains the underlying macroeconomic framework to better understand the dynamics behind the external debt profile, and assesses the relative scale of the...

Lithuania showed strong economic growth with low inflation owing to its sound economic policies. Executive Directors commended this development, and appreciated Lithuania for signing the European Union Accession Treaty. They encouraged the authorities to maintain macroeconomic stability and...

The staff report for the 2004 Article IV Consultation on Germany highlights economic developments and policies. Profitability in nonfinancial firms has picked up, and corporate balance sheets are being repaired. On the policy front, Germany has made important headway over the past year in...

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 2005 Article IV Consultation for Vietnam reports that high credit growth in the context of weak bank balance sheets remains a cause for concern. The overall fiscal deficit narrowed from 7.2 percent of GDP in 2003 to 4½ percent of GDP in 2004, but a growing program of off-budget...

This 2004 Article IV Consultation highlights that there are signs that the economy of Switzerland has started to grow again on the back of stronger exports and domestic investment and supported by accommodative monetary and fiscal policies. Unemployment has risen, but at 4 percent is low by...