This paper discusses the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper—National Development Plan for the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste. The plan has been a participative process, involving constituents in every sector of the economy to identify the problems they face and to suggest solutions to those...

Timor–Leste’s initial efforts to develop a stable and healthy economy have been interrupted by the civil unrest of the past two years. The security situation remains fragile and an economic burden. The key challenge remains how to manage the abundant petroleum revenue to alleviate near-term...

Timor-Leste is a unitary state and has made significant progress with improving its fiscal transparency. The government has adopted a transparent, fiscally sustainable governance framework for the petroleum sector. Nonetheless, there are still many areas in which Timor-Leste diverges from the...

The Timorese economy has improved owing to high oil-financed public spending and a rebound in agriculture, non-oil growth. Despite high bank deposit growth, private sector credit has remained stagnant. The medium-term outlook for growth is positive. Timor-Leste’s key challenge remains to use...

Timor-Leste weathered the global financial crisis well and experienced healthy economic growth rates. It has made solid progress in strengthening the public financial management systems. The budget document provides comprehensive information; fiscal transparency is high. The Ministry of Finance...

This 2009 Article IV Consultation on Timor-Leste highlights that the Timorese economy has posted high economic growth over the past two years, driven by rapid increases in government spending and a recovery in agriculture from a 2007 drought. Central government spending rose sharply in 2008,...

The recent rise in inflation in Timor–Leste has raised concerns about international competitiveness and the cost of living. After remaining relatively subdued for several years, inflation in Timor–Leste rose decisively over the past two years. Higher food prices account for most of the...

This Selected Issues paper presents evidence on linkages between investment and growth observed in other countries to gauge the expected impact of increasing public investment in Timor-Leste. The results indicate that the level of capital expenditure envisioned in the government’s strategy...

Timor-Leste had made good progress in establishing the basis for a stable and healthy economy prior to the civil unrest in 2006, although it remains one of the poorest countries in the world. This 2006 Article IV Consultation highlights that real non-oil GDP growth turned positive in 2004–05...