Poverty risk is most marked for children, displaced persons and returnees, unemployed, and people with low education. Basic goals of the macroeconomic framework of the mid-term development strategy of Bosnia and Herzegovina are to reduce the overall public expenditures, lower the public debt,...

Significant legislative changes and regulatory developments have taken place in the Netherland’s insurance sector. The initial Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) and the current assessment are benchmarked against the Insurance Core Principles (ICPs) issued in 2003. Progress has...

This paper presents a factual update of the Insurance Core Principles including insurance sector market and regulatory developments for Switzerland. Regulatory reforms since 2003 have updated Switzerland’s regulatory and supervisory regime for the insurance industry to bring it in line...

The Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper discusses socioeconomic development in the Republic of Tajikistan. Although poverty reduction in rural areas is proceeding at a faster pace than in urban areas, poverty continues to be a predominantly rural phenomenon. In addition to improving the gender...

Côte d’Ivoire's government decided on the National Development Plan to give a new impetus to its development policy. This new strategy is based on an ambitious and realistic recovery and development program centered on private and public investment. The institutional monitoring framework for...

This Joint Staff Advisory Note focuses on the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) for Albania. The note analyzes the National Strategy for Development and Integration (NSDI) program, which represents a significant improvement in process over the previous PRSP. The note discusses that the...

With much healthcare publicly funded, Hong Kong's rapidly aging population will significant raise fiscal pressure over coming decades. We ask what the implications are of meeting these costs by public funding, or private funding voluntarily or through mandates. Our simulations suggest that...

This Selected Issues paper on the Slovak Republic reviews efficiency and reform of the health sector. The immediate challenge for the health care system in the Slovak Republic is to improve health sector outcomes while containing public health spending. The Slovak health care system is...

This paper discusses key findings of the annual progress report on implementing the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS)—Nigeria’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. The progress report highlights key accomplishments and shortcomings as well as outstanding...

A full assessment of Israel’s compliance with the Insurance Core Principles (ICPs) of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) is presented. The Minister of Finance bears the political responsibility for supervisory oversight of the Israeli insurance system. Nonlife...