This paper reviews economic developments in Barbados during the 1990s. Economic activity declined during 1990-92 but began to recover in 1993. The recovery started slowly in 1993, but picked up in 1994, and real GDP grew by 3.8 percent in that year. Adverse weather in 1994 led to a drop in sugar...

This paper examines the implications of elevated global food prices for inflation in select Central Asian economies - Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The findings suggest that global food inflation has significant short-run effects that build over time. Inflation...

This note discusses the implications of the price shocks for the balance of payments of low-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The response by bilateral donors and multilateral institutions will, in practice, need to be country-specific. To this end, the note identifies a list of 18...

This paper explores the role of foreign aid and remittance inflows in the mitigation of the effects of food price shocks. Using a large sample of developing countries and mobilising dynamic panel data specifications, the econometric results yield two important findings. First, remittance and aid...

This paper tests a version of Barro’s tax-smoothing model, which assumes intertemporal optimization by a government seeking to minimize the distortionary costs of taxation, using Pakistan and Sri Lankan data for 1956-95 and 1964-97, respectively. The empirical results indicate that...

This paper explores the role of foreign aid and remittance inflows in the mitigation of the effects of food price shocks. Using a large sample of developing countries and mobilising dynamic panel data specifications, the econometric results yield two important findings. First, remittance and aid...

Following a participatory process involving all development players, the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) on Djibouti sets goals for poverty reduction and improvement of inhabitants’ living conditions. Analysis of the results of the first three years of implementation of the PRSP...

The fiscal impact of these policies will be significant, but donor support, improved revenue, and budget reallocations will contain domestic financing. The authorities have introduced several policies in response to the disasters. IMF staff supports the authorities’ request for a purchase...