This paper on the Staff-Monitored Program (SMP) on Djibouti explains economic developments and policy discussions. Djibouti faces important challenges to reduce widespread poverty. Since the mid-1990s, the government has been engaged in adjustment and reform programs to restore macroeconomic...

This paper examines the Annual Progress Report on the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia’s Poverty Reduction Strategy. The broad thrust of the government’s strategy remains creating rural growth, accelerating private sector growth in the modern economy to create employment and...

Zambia’s 2005 Article IV Consultation and Third Review Under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility are discussed. Expenditure restraint, including on the wage bill, has helped to put the fiscal operations of the government on a sustainable course and contributed to the attainment of...

This 2005 Article IV Consultation for Pakistan reports that macroeconomic performance continues to be strong, but inflation and external pressures are evident. High growth, including in agriculture, is estimated to have raised disposable incomes. The authorities’ ambitious growth...

This paper focuses on the Fourth Review Under the Staff-Monitored Program (SMP) for Afghanistan. Under the SMP, Afghanistan continued to make progress in improving macroeconomic management, strengthening its capacity to formulate policy, and creating conditions for sustainable economic growth....

This paper discusses the Fifth Review Under the Staff-Monitored Program (SMP) for Afghanistan. The authorities met all the end-June 2005 indicative quantitative targets and structural benchmarks under the SMP. Economic developments were broadly in line with the program projections made at the...

This paper examines Congo’s Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (I-PRSP). Congo’s I-PRSP explains the features and causes of poverty in Congo. It provides a short- and medium-term vision of development as well as a strategic orientation for a return to sustainable and equitable growth....

The paper discusses the consideration of Honduras’s Enhanced Initiative for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC). The interim relief provided under the enhanced HIPC Initiative has allowed the government to increase social spending. Controlling the public sector wage bill and...

This Joint Staff Advisory Note examines Congo’s Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (I-PRSP). The I-PRSP recognizes the lack of recent and good quality data on poverty, and recommends new surveys and studies to improve poverty assessment and analysis. On the basis of the sparsely...

This Joint Staff Advisory Note discusses key findings of the Second Annual Progress Report (APR) on Senegal’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). The APR acknowledges the uneven implementation of the PRSP in 2004 and highlights persistent weaknesses in key areas. It also recognizes...