This Selected Issues paper reviews the extent to which growth in Ethiopia has translated into higher living standards. A key feature of the economic strategy has been an explicit commitment to poverty reduction and structural transformation. This is underpinned by the vision of a...

This Joint Staff Advisory Note focuses on the Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (I-PRSP) for Sudan. I-PRSP provides a useful stock taking of the socioeconomic situation in Sudan and offers a good basis for the design and monitoring of growth and poverty reduction policies. It is the first...

The economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is strongly connected to Europe through trade and financial channels, continues to pay a high price for the tough conditions in the area. The paper discuss that, following low demand in its trading partners, exports slumped in 2012 by 7.5 percent,...

This Selected Issues paper on Euro Area Policies 2013 Article IV Consultation highlights the monetary transmission mechanism and monetary policies. The European Central Bank has announced the Outright Monetary Transactions framework to address severe distortions in sovereign bond markets and...

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s (Bah) economy started to lose steam in early 2012 as growth slowed in Europe. Intensification of the euro area crisis further affected Bin's growth outlook. However, measures such as limiting the expenditure at the central government level and targeting overall...

This Selected Issues paper discusses the need to meet Algeria’s fiscal challenges. Although Algeria enjoys substantial fiscal savings, fiscal policy is currently on an unsustainable path. Under current projections, Algeria will deplete its financial savings in the long term, leaving...

This chapter reviews developments in GDP over the past several decades. The analysis shows that accumulation of labor and capital explains the bulk of overall output growth since 1990, with changes in total factor productivity playing only a minor role. Moreover, while increases in total factor...

This 2013 Article IV Consultation highlights that the Spanish economy accumulated large imbalances during the long boom that ended with the global financial crisis. Unemployment soared, the fiscal position deteriorated sharply, and funding conditions tightened for both the public and private...

This Selected Issues paper discusses the designing and implementing of Kuwait’s fiscal policy for the medium term. Fiscal policy has a major role to play in supporting macrostability and diversification. The fiscal strategy design and implementation on a yearly basis are based on a few...

This paper examines the Islamic Republic of Mauritania’s adoption of its third Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) action plan, covering the medium term (2011–2015). Poverty reduction as the ultimate objective of all of the country’s economic social and institutional...