"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...

This Public Expenditure Review analyzes trends in revenues, expenditures and development outcomes over the past 10 years. Its main findings are that, since the late 1990s, the Philippines has been caught in a low-revenue, low-expenditure trap and that the current level of public revenues is not...

Chad is among the poorest countries in the world. Around 55 percent of the population lives below the poverty line and about 36 percent of the population lives in extreme poverty. The opportunity to reduce widespread poverty provided by the dramatic increase in revenues has been, however, mostly...

This report addresses key issues on macroeconomic stability, efficient allocation of public expenditures, public sector staffing, and public finance management. The fiscal sustainability analysis carried out for this report indicates that serious adjustments will be needed to improve Burundi's...

The Government of Moldova's Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (EGPRSP) lays out an ambitious plan for sustaining growth and poverty reduction and reshaping the government to meet the needs of a market economy. The public expenditures envisaged under this ambitious plan,...

Guinea-Bissau's large public sector wage bill poses a major threat to the country's macroeconomic stability: it hampers growth, limits the government's ability to service the domestic and external debt, and crowds out private investments. For this reason, the government decided in early 2006 to...

This report on managing government finances for growth and poverty reduction in Lesotho is centered on three areas of analysis: (i) macroeconomic and fiscal performance and prospects; (ii) inter and intra-sectoral allocation of resources; and (iii) public expenditure and financial management. A...

This Public Expenditure Review (PER) builds on the commitments of the 2003 Country Economic Memorandum (CEM), and 2002 Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) Progress Report, being its primary objective to assess strengths and weaknesses in key areas of public expenditure, and identify policy options...

Lebanon's current priority -- in the face of high public deficits and unsustainable debt dynamics -- is to contain and rationalize public expenditures in every possible sector while improving the efficiency of social spending. The needed containment of primary public expenditures should be...