This paper develops and tests a model of Japan’s household savings rate, based on the life-cycle hypothesis that the primary motive for savings is provision for retirement. The paper shows that Japan’s high household savings rate in recent decades reflects the positive influence of rapid...

Benin has been implementing a national poverty reduction strategy for sustainable human development. The government of Benin judiciously stressed the development of the social sector and improved governance to develop human resources and enhance the effectiveness of its actions so as to lay the...

This Annual Progress Report reviews the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper and Economic and Social Plan for 2007 for Mozambique. The report presents the new simplified structure adopted in the Review of the First Half of 2007. In the international context, the evolution of the international...

This strategic paper discusses Ethiopia’s growth and transformation plan (GTP) for the periods 2010/2011 and 2014/2015. The Ethiopian government’s main development agenda has been poverty eradication. The government has designed, and is implementing, strategies, policies, and plans...

This paper reports on the economic and financial reforms in Guinea-Bissau. After a long period of recession since the beginning of 2000 followed by a slight recovery in 2007, the economy of Guinea-Bissau has entered a new growth spurt in 2008. The budget deficit, which averaged 10 percent of GDP...

This Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) was developed based on a long participatory process based on an institutional mechanism involving all socioeconomic development actors in the country. The annual review of the PRSP seeks to assess the results achieved in the implementation of the...

This abstract discusses Benin’s poverty reduction strategy (PRS1). The PRS1 serves as both a strategic frame of reference and a framework for dialogue with technical and financial partners (TFPs). The six major phases involved in the preparation of the growth and poverty reduction...

This paper assesses the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper of Vietnam, known as the Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy (CPRGS). It is an action program to achieve economic growth and poverty reduction objectives. This paper reviews the objectives and tasks of socio-economic...

The Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) on Benin analyzes poverty trends and economic policies. The gap between the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) poverty line and trends recorded in Benin is still considerable, especially in terms of the depth and gravity of poverty. Progress on good...

This is the third Annual Progress Report on the implementation of the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS). Both the budget and the GPRS propose to tackle issues including reduction in the domestic debt, reduction of inflation to single digits, increasing revenue mobilization, curtailing...