This paper shows how growth and demography, two important determinants of the savings rate in the life-cycle approach, explain a large part of the diversity in savings behavior in Asia across eight countries as well as over time. Inflation and adverse movements in the terms of trade are found to...

The paper analyzes the development of government social expenditure during the economic stabilization period, with specific reference to the changing needs for such expenditure arising from the change in Israel’s demographic structure. The results reveal a real cut in direct services. The...

This paper reviews the financial implications of aging for the pension system in Belgium during 1995-2050. Our simulations indicate a strong rise in pension expenditure over the next half century, as is the case in other industrialized countries. In Belgium, the problem is particularly acute in...

Am 3. Januar 1992 stellte der Präsident der russischen Föderation den offiziellen Antrag auf Aufnahme in den IMF und die Weltbankgruppe. Bereits seit November 1991 besuchten IMF-Experten Moskau, um mit den russischen Behörden die Wirtschaftspolitik zu besprechen, eine fundierte...

This Selected Issues paper on the Russian Federation underlies inflation persistence and evolution in response to structural shocks. Inflation in Russia has been characterized by a considerable degree of persistence. An explicit inflation-targeting framework may help reduce firms’ uncertainty...

The staff report for the 2007 Article IV Consultation highlights the Russian Federation’s long-term perspective, economic developments, and macroeconomic policies. Russia’s economic growth remains robust. High oil prices and sound fiscal policy underlie Russia’s long spell of robust...

This report on the Russian Federation’s Article IV Consultation highlights Data Module and response by the authorities. Russia’s statistical system has made good progress in adopting international statistical methodologies in response to the need to capture in the statistics the country’s...

This Selected Issues paper analyzes the entrenched inflation in Russia. It presents a possible explanation for the entrenched inflation stating that the Russian economy is facing increasing supply-side constraints in goods and labor markets. The paper focuses on measuring the performance of...

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