This paper assesses Mali’s progress under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, and seeks Board approval of the completion point under the enhanced framework. By end-December 2002, the policy reforms for the floating completion point under the enhanced HIPC Initiative had...

This paper on Cameroon’s Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative explains implementation of the poverty reduction strategy and macroeconomic performance. Executive Directors agreed that Cameroon’s external public debt was above the HIPC Initiative sustainability...

Burundi is one of the poorest countries in the world. The country is emerging from more than a decade of civil conflict. The World Bank’s country assistance strategy focuses on structural reforms to further increase growth and reduce poverty. The economy is emerging from the effects of...

This paper presents key findings of the Assessment of the Supervision and Regulation of the Financial Sector for Palau. Palau’s government has demonstrated a clear political commitment to antimoney laundering. In addition to being a signatory to the Honiara Declaration, it has more...

Mali has been implementing reforms supported by the IMF through the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF) and Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) arrangements. Executive Directors commended the macroeconomic management, poverty reduction, and structural reforms, and emphasized...

This paper assesses the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper of Vietnam, known as the Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy (CPRGS). It is an action program to achieve economic growth and poverty reduction objectives. This paper reviews the objectives and tasks of socio-economic...

This strategic paper discusses Ethiopia’s growth and transformation plan (GTP) for the periods 2010/2011 and 2014/2015. The Ethiopian government’s main development agenda has been poverty eradication. The government has designed, and is implementing, strategies, policies, and plans...

Shocks to aggregate activity in China have a significant and persistent short-run impact on the price of oil and some base metals. In contrast, shocks to apparent commodity-specific consumption (in part reflecting inventory demand) have no effect on commodity prices. China’s impact on...

This paper studies the structure and evolution of trade protection in the Middle East and North African (MENA) countries in the 1990s. MENA countries use tariffs and nontariff barriers, and tariff dispersion and nontariff barriers, as substitute protection measures. Tariff levels and tariff...

In today's financial system, complex financial institutions are connected through an opaque network of financial exposures. These connections contribute to financial deepening and greater savings allocation efficiency, but are also unstable channels of contagion. Basel III and Solvency II should...