This paper assesses the relative efficiency and flexibility of public spending in Slovenia compared to the advanced and new EU member states. Spending on health care, education, and social protection is relatively high in Slovenia without achieving correspondingly better outcomes. Inefficiencies...

This paper updates existing measures of the U.S. fiscal gap to include federal laws up to and including the mid-December 2010 federal fiscal stimulus. It then applies the methodology of generational accounting to establish how the burden of adjustment required to attain fiscal sustainability is...

We use bank level data to study the efficiency of banks in Sub-Saharan African middle-income countries and provide possible explanations for the difference in the efficiency levels of banks. We find that banks, on average, could save 20-30 percent of their total costs if they were operating...

Bahrain's financial sector development strategy succeeded in building a leading regional banking center, which has become one of the main engines of growth and sources of employment. Although the simulations conducted in the paper suggest that the banking sector in Bahrain continues to occupy a...

Cost-efficiency, scale efficiency, and productivity change are estimated by data envelopment analysis; and cost-efficiency is regressed on explanatory variables. No evidence is found for average productivity responding to deregulation over the period studied. State-owned banks are found to be...

The 2007 Article IV Consultation with the Kingdom of the Netherlands explains fiscal policy and financial sector issues. Improvements in the macroeconomic and business environments and technological innovation have contributed positively to Dutch competitiveness. Executive Directors emphasized...

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...

The key findings of the Czech Republic’s 2010 Article IV Consultation are discussed. Large foreign direct investment inflows fostered trade integration, underpinning an export-led expansion. Higher initial standard of living contained consumption convergence pressures. An improved fiscal...

An externally driven economic recovery has continued gathering strength in 2010 in Luxembourg. Executive Directors welcomed this development and the authorities’ supportive fiscal policy in 2010 as well as their role in stabilizing the financial sector. According to the Financial Sector...

This 2012 Article IV Consultation highlights that economic growth in Luxembourg slowed in 2011 amid the euro area sovereign debt crisis. Reflecting sluggish external demand, economic activity is expected to further weaken, with growth projected to decline to ½ percent in 2012. Executive...