Austria’s federal system comprises the federal government and nine provinces (Länder). The federal system is rather centralized by international standards, with the federal government (including social security funds) accounting for about 70 percent of general government spending, the...

There is an urgent need to re-establish a viable external position through a comprehensive, swift, and sustained policy adjustment. The fiscal adjustment will need to rest on both wide-ranging tax revenue measures and substantial expenditure restraint, including a freeze of current expenditure....

This paper presents key findings of the Ex Post Assessment of Longer-Term Program Engagement for Bolivia. Bolivia is a country that is perceived as having one of the best structural reform records in Latin America but experienced sluggish per capita growth, and made virtually no progress in...

Bolivia’s Third Review Under the Stand-By Arrangement and Request for Waiver of Nonobservance of Performance Criteria are discussed. The highly dollarized financial system suffered a renewed deposit run in October 2003, and conditions in the financial sector have remained fragile in 2004....

This 2004 Article IV Consultation highlights that Costa Rica’s economic performance improved in 2003. Following several years of slow growth, real GDP rose by 5½ percent, boosted by a recovery of exports and strong private investment. Inflation declined below 10 percent while...

The Eritrean economy continues to be adversely affected by the effects of the border conflict with Ethiopia. In other structural reform areas, the government seems to have further increased state control over the economy. The authorities confirmed their commitment to strengthen the role of the...

This Selected Issues paper for Japan illustrates the impact of fiscal and structural reforms on the Japanese and world economies. Japan faces a sizable fiscal deficit, against a backdrop of weak trend growth and growing imbalances in the world economy. Moreover, upward pressure on health care...

We look into Brazil's public sector accounts during the two administrations of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso: 1995-98 and 1998-2002. We underline the fact that the authorities' attitude was as important as the pace of the structural reforms for understanding the dynamics of the public...

This Selected Issues paper assesses the long-term fiscal position of Canada. Simulations based on current tax and spending policies suggest that the fiscal position will remain favorable until well into the middle of the century, and relatively modest adjustments would be required to make these...

The staff report for the 2004 Article IV Consultation on the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) focuses on economic developments and policies. Fiscal and structural reforms are needed for the FSM to achieve self-sufficiency. The large government sector will be increasingly unsustainable given...