This paper presents new evidence on the patterns of cyclicality in the fiscal policy stance of developing and industrialized countries over a period of more than three decades covering 180 countries during 1980?2012. First, the paper considers issues of robustness in the choice of the proxy for...

Sovereign wealth funds represent a large and growing pool of savings. An increasing number of these funds are owned by natural resource?exporting countries and have a variety of objectives, including intergenerational equity and macroeconomic stabilization. Traditionally, these funds have...

The paper exploits a simulation environment and its output indicators to compare the performance of "ex-ante" policy instruments across housing and social welfare domains. We create a progressive score to contrast six single and mixed policy instruments against a no-policy baseline. The multiple...

This paper examines Sudan’s 2005 Article IV Consultation and the Final Review of the 2004 and 2005 Staff-Monitored Program (SMP). Between 2001 and 2004, the economy of Sudan grew at an average rate of 6.4 percent per year, and the non-oil sector expanded at an annual rate of 5.3 percent. The...

Owing to the high dependence of its exports on countries and commodities, Finland experienced the worst recession in the euro area. Executive Directors encouraged authorities to focus on improving bank cost efficiency, preventing excessive risk taking, and limiting liquidity and funding risks....

This 2004 Article IV Consultation highlights that Morocco’s macroeconomic conditions remained strong in 2003. Growth increased to 5.5 percent because of an exceptionally good cereal production, while non-agricultural growth showed signs of revival. Inflation was below 2 percent and the...

Barbados has some of the highest social and competitiveness indicators in the region and enjoys investment-grade rating on its sovereign bonds. The staff report for Barbados’s 2009 Article IV Consultation highlights economic developments and policies. Balance-of-payments pressures have...