This 2009 Article IV Consultation highlights that economic growth in the United Kingdom has turned sharply negative since mid-2008. Housing prices have fallen by more than 20 percent from their peak, the unemployment rate has increased, and inflation has come down. In response to the crisis, the...

This paper provides background to the Board paper on Macro Policy Lessons for a Sound Design of Fiscal Decentralization. It summarizes the findings and recommendations of the Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD) for ten countries to which it provided advice on fiscal decentralization. The selected...

This 2008 Article IV Consultation highlights that the United Kingdom’s economic growth was above trend in 2006 and 2007. In terms of expenditure, the expansion was largely driven by private consumption, on the heels of strong employment, steady real wage and living standards growth, and a...

The U.K. economy is on the mend, but crisis-related scars still need healing. The challenge ahead will be to ensure sustainable recovery and balance sheet repair while remaining flexible to respond to shocks. A highly accommodative monetary stance is required to offset the contractionary impulse...

This 2006 Article IV Consultation highlights that macroeconomic performance in the United Kingdom remains impressive. After softer growth in 2005, the acceleration in GDP in 2006 was broadly based. Business investment was boosted by high net rates of return; private consumption by robust...

While federal credit programs are varied in form, their fiscal and economic effects arise primarily from the same source—each program’s subsidy component. Recent credit reform proposals would make control of credit subsidies the primary focus of budgetary efforts. By subjecting these...

In recent years, the IMF has released a growing number of reports and other documents covering economic and financial developments and trends in member countries. Each report, prepared by a staff team after discussions with government officials, is published at the option of the member country

Just as uncertainty associated with COVID-19 pandemic was abating, Russia invaded Ukraine. Uncertainty endured, shifting from pandemic to war, affecting all countries but in different ways. Above-target inflation rates and inflation surprises have helped reducing debt-to-GDP ratios but such...

Investigates the macroeconomic challenges for low-income countries created by a surge in aid inflows. It develops an analytical framework for examining possible policy responses to increased aid, and then applies this framework to the experience of five relatively well-governed countries that...