Colombia has reduced extreme poverty in the past 16 years by almost half, moderate poverty by 22 percentage points, and made more than four million Colombians jump the threshold of multidimensional poverty. However, it remains one of the most unequal countries in the region, after Brazil and...

This paper analyzes whether fiscal policy in South Asia amplifies or smooths business cycle fluctuations. The paper estimates several econometric models to explore the cyclicality of government spending and tax buoyancy. The findings show that fiscal policy is procyclical in most countries. In...

This paper studies whether budget rigidities affect the probability of countries getting into fiscal distress and reduce the likelihood of governments performing fiscal adjustments. Budget rigidities are constraints that limit the ability of the government to change the size and structure of the...

This review of public expenditures on Social Protection (SP) in Nicaragua is based on the analytical framework of Social Risk Management (SRM) developed by the World Bank. The concept of managing social risk comes from the notion that certain groups in society are vulnerable to unexpected shocks...

Zimbabwe is at a critical juncture. After dollarization and favorable economic factors fueled arecovery during 2009-12, Zimbabwe today faces slowing growth, a financial crisis, increasingly erratic weather patterns and rising poverty and inequality. To help respond to these issues, the...

For most of the last two decades, Ghana's economy has been on a high growth path, which has been accompanied by significant reduction in poverty. Despite this progress, large macroeconomic imbalances threaten growth and continued poverty reduction. Rapid economic growth and poverty reduction has...