This paper presents the status report on Bangladesh’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). Having prepared the Interim-PRSP (I-PRSP) in March 2003, the government of Bangladesh has set itself to a well-rounded process of preparing the full-blown PRSP by December 2004. That would...

This paper focuses on the National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction for Bangladesh. The paper discusses that accelerating growth and bringing a pro-poor orientation in the growth process would be achieved through emphasizing four priority areas: accelerated growth in rural areas and...

The GCC growth model has delivered substantial improvements in living standards over several decades. Access to foreign labor has supported rapid growth in the non-oil sector and price stability in the region. It has also resulted in positive spillovers to the migrant-sending countries through...

Fiscal deficits and the public debt has grown throughout much of the postwar period in most industrialized countries under the pressure of rising public expenditure, a trend that has begun to reverse after 1992. A number of studies argue that fiscal consolidation in association with expenditure...

Fiscal policy has a strong foundation in the multiyear program of spending cuts, tax reforms, and deficit reduction in Germany. Germany's focus on actual, rather than cyclically adjusted, fiscal goals and outcomes carries the risk of rendering fiscal policy procyclical. The recent business and...

This cross-country paper explains differences in external sector performance among four large euro area countries—France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. The paper discusses that during 2001–04, the performance of the external sector differed markedly among these four largest euro area countries....

This 2012 Article IV Consultation reports that the German economy’s performance has been remarkable despite facing considerable headwinds. Several conditions are now in place in Germany for a domestic demand-led recovery. Employment creation has been robust and unemployment at 5.3 percent is...

This paper examines and compares the instruments and procedures currently employed by the central banks of France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States for implementing monetary policy in the short run. The analysis indicates that the monetary authorities of these five...

This 1999 Article IV Consultation highlights that the monetary conditions in Germany have eased significantly since late 1998, reflecting both policy actions and exchange rate developments. Short-term interest rates were reduced by the Bundesbank to 3 percent in December 1998 and, in the new...

This chapter reviews recent economic developments and economic prospects in which the emergence of the principal imbalances is traced, and their persistent character highlighted in the Federal Republic of Germany. On macroeconomic policies, while one might quibble about the rate of expansion of...