The aim of this note is to present and analyze subnational fiscal trends in Russia in the context of overall slowing economic growth and falling oil prices over the last few years. In particular, in 2015, GDP fell by 3.7 percent. Despite efforts to cut expenditures, the federal deficit increased...

The Philippine economy grew slower than expected at 3.7 percent in 2011, held back by weak public spending and external demand. In the fourth quarter (Q4), growth slightly improved at 3.7 percent. As in past quarters, growth was driven by remittance-fueled household consumption, which grew by...

A joint IMF and World Bank team conducted virtual missions to Georgia during January-February 2021 and May-June 2021, to update the findings of the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) conducted in 2014. This report summarizes the main findings of the mission, identifies key financial...

The Financial System Assessment (FSA) is based on the work of the joint IMF-World Bank Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) Update mission to Georgia during February 15-28,2006. The principal objective of the FSAP Update was to assist the authorities in evaluating the potential...

The Lao economy is projected to grow at 8 percent in 2013. The hydropower sector (both completed projects in operation and projects in the construction or development phase), construction, food processing, and services sectors remain the major contributors to this growth. Overall inflation has...

"The recent global financial crisis has shaken the confidence of developed and developing countries alike in the very blueprint of financial and macro policies that underlie the western capitalist systems. In an effort to contain the crisis from spreading, the authorities in the US and many...

"Political economy explanations for fiscal profligacy are dominated by models of bargaining among organized interest groups over group-specific targeted benefits financed by generalized taxation. These models predict that governments consisting of a coalition of political parties spend more than...

"This paper relaxes some key assumptions in the probabilistic approach to fiscal sustainability. First, the authors identify structural breaks over the sample period used to estimate the covariance matrix of the shocks to the debt ratios. Second, the assumption of normality of the shocks is...

"The authors describe the main trends of Brazil's fiscal policy during the past decade and analyze (1) the ability to raise the primary surplus in response to external shocks, (2) the pro-cyclical nature of fiscal policy, and (3) the long-run impact of government expenditure composition and...