This 2015 Article IV Consultation highlights that Afghanistan remains a poor fragile state that is far from self-reliance. Significant fiscal and banking vulnerabilities emerged in 2014. Domestic revenue collection fell below its 2013 level because of lower growth, declining imports, and lower...

KEY ISSUES Inflation subsided in 2013 but preexisting and emerging macro-financial vulnerabilities need to be tackled. After reaching a 15-year high in 2012, inflation is coming back within the central bank’s target thanks to tighter monetary policy and fiscal consolidation. However, a recent...

In recent years, the IMF has released a growing number of reports and other documents covering economic and financial developments and trends in member countries. Each report, prepared by a staff team after discussions with government officials, is published at the option of the member country

Staff Report for the 2012 Article IV consultation, prepared by a staff team of the IMF, following discussions that ended on July 23, 2012, with the officials of Sudan on economic developments and policies. Based on information available at the time of these discussions, the staff report was...

Countries in the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan (MENAP) region and those in the Caucasus and Central Asia (CCA) responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with swift and stringent measures to mitigate its spread and impact but continue to face an uncertain and difficult...

This paper focuses on Jordan's 2014 Article IV Consultation, Third and Fourth Reviews Under the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA), Request for Waivers of Nonobservance of Performance Criterion (PC) and Applicability of PCs. The program is broadly on track and, looking forward, will focus on deep tax...

KEY ISSUES Background: Yemen has made good progress since the 2011 crisis in advancing the political transition. However, the fledgling economic recovery remained insufficient to make a dent in unemployment and poverty, and fundamental reforms were postponed for fear of derailing the National...

A year into the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the race between vaccine and virus entered a new phase in the Middle East and Central Asia, and the path to recovery in 2021 is expected to be long and divergent. The outlook will vary significantly across countries, depending on the pandemic's...

Regional Economic Outlook: Middle East and Central Asia underlines that the region has continued to experience strong growth in 2008, and the short-term outlook is generally favorable. However, inflation has emerged as a key issue, and while the global credit crunch has thus far had a limited...