The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is faced with the task of stabilizing and reviving a devastated economy after years of military conflicts, sanctions, and economic mismanagement. A weakened institutional capacity and the still evolving political situation is a cause for concern. A short-term...

This paper examines Serbia and Montenegro’s Third Review Under the Extended Arrangement and Requests for Waiver of Performance Criterion. Serbia and Montenegro’s recent economic performance has been mixed, combining excellent progress in some areas with an uncomfortably large current account...

This paper focuses on Serbia and Montenegro’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). Through the process of developing the Poverty Reduction Strategy, national indicators in line with the Millennium Development Goals have been identified. The poverty reduction strategy for the Union focuses...

This paper assesses Serbia and Montenegro’s First Review Under the Extended Arrangement (EA). Serbia and Montenegro’s economic and policy performance has remained good under the current EA, but daunting challenges lie ahead. Macroeconomic policies need to be carefully calibrated to address...

This Selected Issues paper and Statistical Appendix for the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia outlines the progress made in the fiscal area since late 2000, focusing on the overall fiscal adjustment (developments in revenue and expenditure) and reforms of the tax system and social spending. The...

This paper presents the Joint Staff Assessment of Serbia and Montenegro’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). The PRSP for Serbia and Montenegro comprises a union-level overview and a PRSP for each of the two republics. The Montenegrin PRSP is broadly in line with the Agenda of Economic...

This paper assesses the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia’s (FRY) 2002 Article IV Consultation, Third Review Under the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA), and a Request for an Extended Arrangement. Despite the impressive achievements since late 2000, when FRY succeeded to membership in the IMF, the...

The new government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has formulated and started to implement an ambitious program of stabilization and reform with impressive speed and commitment. The program provides for macroeconomic policies designed to reduce inflation and support reconstruction coupled...

This 2005 Article IV Consultation highlights that macroeconomic imbalances in Serbia and Montenegro widened in 2004, putting at risk some of the impressive earlier achievements. Growth, about 5 percent in nonagriculture since 2002, has been fueled by a surge in domestic demand. Lack of...

This Selected Issues and Statistical Appendix paper examines the scope for improving the effectiveness of fiscal policy of Serbia and Montenegro in containing the persistently large external imbalance. The paper discusses the causes of the current problems and presents preliminary results of the...