When policymakers have little option but to consider a sizable fiscal adjustment, they are confronted by the following questions: Can a large fiscal adjustment be implemented succesfully? How is a large adjustment best designed and implemented? What will be its impact on the economy? This...

The paper reviews the changing nature of intergovernmental fiscal relations between the provinces and the central government in China over the past two decades and provides an assessment of the success of previous reforms in meeting their objectives. Key existing weaknesses in the current system...

The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia’s 2005 Article IV Consultation reports that domestic credit growth has accelerated, driven by strong demand from the government, public enterprises, and the private sector. High import content, particularly from public infrastructure...

This paper focuses on Nicaragua’s Fifth and Sixth Reviews Under the Three-Year Arrangement Under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility, Request for Waiver and Modification of Performance Criteria. The macroeconomic performance has been broadly satisfactory. Economic growth is...

Macroeconomic and financial vulnerabilities have intensified in recent years. Bolivia has adopted a program to stabilize the situation, and the program is broadly on track. Monetary policy is appropriately geared to support a gradual build-up of international reserves while ensuring needed...

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Poverty Reduction Strategy paper reports that significant progress has been made since the late 1990s in building both a market economy and a single economic space. GDP growth has slowed recently following the post-conflict bounce, and the current account deficit...

This Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper for Nicaragua reports that the most pressing demand for the majority of Nicaraguans is employment generation and economic growth. The National Development Plan (NDP) gives priority to actions that improve the investment climate and promote productive...

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...

This paper examines a typology of grants that are used across the world, and places these in the context of the overall constitutional and legal framework for a country. It looks at the options for grants, given the need to maintain overall macroeconomic stability, efficiency in the use of...

This paper examines India's experience with fiscal rules with a view to inform the design of a possible successor fiscal framework to the FRBMA. Among several proposals to strengthen the FRBMA, a framework that focuses medium-term fiscal policy on debt sustainability by the use of a medium term...