This Selected Issues paper for Denmark shows that a demographic shift will have several impacts on the economy. The decline in the relative size of the labor force will result in relatively fewer goods produced. This effect will be particularly strong, because a large portion of the current...

Belgium has effected a remarkable fiscal adjustment, best illustrated by the decline in its public debt. While benefiting from an appreciable decline in interest rates, most of the underlying consolidation reflected a considerable increase in the tax burden, one of the highest in the...

Niger understands the need to adopt a long-term strategy capable of optimizing natural and human resources to promote sustainable economic and social development and inclusive growth. The government has renewed planning efforts in the preparation of three principal strategic documents. These...

The staff report for the 2004 Article IV Consultation on France highlights economic performance and near-term outlook and policies. On structural issues, a health care reform has established the key instruments to gain control over the system’s budget. Ongoing civil service reform and...

This Joint Advisory Note on the Democratic Republic of the Congo discusses economic growth and employment-creating sectors. The agriculture and mining sectors are projected to continue their expansion, while simultaneously raising labor productivity and freeing up labor. The urban population is...

Côte d’Ivoire's government decided on the National Development Plan to give a new impetus to its development policy. This new strategy is based on an ambitious and realistic recovery and development program centered on private and public investment. The institutional monitoring framework for...

This paper on Senegal’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper discusses the economic, social, and environmental performance of policies, the political and institutional environment, and the constraints weighing on its growth as well as the challenges to be addressed. The shortage of basic...

This Selected Issues Paper discusses some observations on Singapore’s monetary policy framework. Singapore’s monetary policy uses the nominal effective exchange rate (NEER) as the instrument in a basket-band-crawl framework. The paper finds that under some conditions an exchange...