The Bank of Canada (BOC) sets a high benchmark for transparency, which is recognized by its stakeholders, thus maintaining a high level of trust and accountability. The BOC's transparency practices are broadly aligned with expanded and comprehensive practices as defined by the IMF Central Bank...

This Selected Issues paper focuses on decomposing the public-private sector wage differential in Lesotho. Lesotho's public wage bill is significantly higher than in other countries in the region. This paper takes a closer look at the civil service wage bill and examines public sector wage...

This paper provides three policy lessons to take full advantage of the opportunity afforded by EU funds. The main features of the global integrated monetary and fiscal (GIMF) model and how it was modified to account for income convergence are discussed. The impact of EU funds as exhibited in the...

The Selected Issues paper on Poland underlies that as the only European Union economy to avoid outright recession during the crisis, Poland is likely to attract renewed risk appetite. Poland could become one of the main recipients of capital inflows. This could lead to excessive exchange-rate...

The staff report for the 2006 Article IV Consultation on Botswana highlights economic developments and monetary and exchange rate policy. Botswana’s growth has been fueled by continued increases in diamond production; and real diamond output is projected to level off, and then decline...

This paper discusses key findings of the Fourth Review Under the Stand-By Arrangement for Georgia. The strategy remains appropriate, and program targets for 2010 are in line with those presented at the Third Review. Fiscal policy will transition from an expansionary stance in 2009 to a path of...

This paper discusses the request from Costa Rica for a Stand-By Arrangement (SBA). The program seeks to enable an orderly adjustment of the Costa Rican economy to an adverse external environment, while mitigating its adverse effects on growth and household incomes. To strengthen the external...

Recent economic performance in Yemen has been mixed. A sharp decline in oil production, coupled with inflexible government expenditure and only marginal improvement in the tax-to-GDP ratio led to an overall fiscal deficit of 5.8 percent in 2007. Executive Directors have noted that Yemen’s...

This Selected Issues paper reviews how Australia’s economy has adapted to a flexible Australian Dollar. The paper provides a background on the float and the initial policy challenges. It discusses the main elements of the Future Fund proposal, and estimates how much Australia and other...