This paper on Romania was prepared by a staff team of the International Monetary Fund as background documentation for the periodic consultation with the member country. It is based on the information available at the time it was completed on September 13, 2012. The views expressed in this...

At the request of the Government of Liberia (GoL), the IMF Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD) led an external assessment of the central government's public financial management (PFM) systems based on the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) methodology. The assessment was...

This Selected Issues paper analyzes energy price reform in Kuwait. It emphasizes that Kuwait should take advantage of current low global energy prices to strengthen efforts to reform domestic energy prices. In the longer term, this would benefit growth by increasing efficiency in the economy and...

This Selected Issues paper examines the labor market and migration in Sweden. Sweden enjoys a broadly well-functioning labor market. The labor force has been expanding at a healthy pace, in part reflecting rising participation including by females. This paper discusses the compositional changes...

This report evaluates the state of fiscal transparency in Georgia. Georgia has taken important steps to enhance its fiscal transparency practices over the past decade. Fiscal reports have become more comprehensive, with the development of a central government balance sheet and income statement....

Military coups that occurred in Guinea-Bissau and Mali caused economic disruption in the WAEMU countries. Regional policies have been in line with the recommendations, and growth is expected to remain robust, risks are on the downside, and the macroeconomic policy is appropriate. Preserving debt...

This Selected Issues paper analyzes inflation dynamics in Australia, with a special focus on wages. The paper finds inflation dynamics in Australia are similar to what is seen in most advanced economies in recent quarters, with inflation primarily driven by cyclically sensitive components. While...

This Selected Issues paper focuses on labor productivity dynamics in Spain. Labor productivity has been a long-standing structural challenge in Spain. Productivity performance has been weak across several dimensions: labor productivity levels are significantly lower than in some peer economies,...