This paper presents the first set of Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) borrowing agreements that have been signed to respond to the unprecedented demand for concessional financing during the COVID-19 pandemic. A fast-track loan mobilization round has been instrumental to allow the Fund...

In the past decade, most of the EU New Member States experienced a severe credit-boom bust cycle. This paper argues that the credit boom-bust cycle was to a large extent the result of factors external to the region (“bad luck”). Rapid credit growth followed from a high liquidity in global...

There is broad agreement on the appropriateness of the budget deficit target. The government aims to strengthen expenditure control and efficiency, at the national and at subnational levels, to achieve a reduction in the tax burden while cutting the fiscal deficit. The IMF staff suggested...

This Selected Issues paper describes stylized facts, institutions, and directions for reform in the Italian labor market. The paper examines developments in aggregate features of the labor market. It highlights that during the latest cyclical recovery, total employment has remained stagnant and...