Like most Sub-Saharan African countries, Kenya’s economic growth appears to have been primarily driven by factor accumulation. The Selected Issues paper and Statistical Appendix for Kenya examines economic developments and policies. During the last two decades, Kenya has been plagued by...

This Selected Issues paper focuses on financing constraints and productivity in Estonia. The paper examines two questions: (1) is there evidence of financing constraints among Estonian firms; and (2) have financing constraints reduced firm-level total factor productivity (TFP)? These questions...

Despite the external origin of the financial crisis, the potential impact on India’s corporate sector could be large, as India has become increasingly integrated with the global economy in the past decade. The Selected Issues paper discusses India’s economic development and...

This paper estimates the extent of spare capacity in the U.K. economy using a range of methodologies pointing to an output gap and the behavior of inflation during large output gaps. The usefulness of fiscal rules in supporting fiscal consolidation is generally positive, and a more permanent...

The Selected Issues paper for Uganda and Rwanda discusses the impact of rising international food and fuel prices on inflation. Unlike in the case of fuel-producing countries, the East African Community countries are major agricultural producers, with agriculture accounting for 20 percent to 40...

This Selected Issues paper evaluates Hungary’s growth and current account performance by using a simple empirical model that provides benchmarks to measure GDP growth rates and current account deficits. The cross-country analysis suggests that in general, larger current account deficits...

The Selected Issues paper examines the dynamics of the inflation process in the United Kingdom, particularly the influence of external shocks. The paper provides a brief summary of existing empirical work. It presents the expectations-augmented Phillips curve model used in the analysis. The...

This Selected Issues paper on the United Kingdom reviews the IMF's Global Economy Model, which incorporates energy to examine the impact of rising energy prices on the United Kingdom. The model incorporates energy as a final consumption good as well as a primary input in the production process....

This technical note on the Kingdom of the Netherlands—Netherlands reviews the Model of Financial Sector Supervision. The Netherlands authorities have invested considerable thought and effort in designing and implementing the new institutional framework, and we expect that it will make an...

This Selected Issues paper for Sweden reports that the gradual introduction of a detailed fiscal framework accompanied the successful consolidation effort over the last decade in Sweden. The framework includes a surplus target of 2 percent of GDP for the general government, multiyear expenditure...