This Selected Issues paper on Portugal reviews the considerations regarding productivity slowdown. The favorable evolution of income growth from the 1970s to the mid-1990s in Portugal was associated with above-average productivity growth but also reflected a more moderate decline in the amount...

Important issues of the Netherlands are discussed. Openness to trade has benefited the Netherlands before the crisis and has supported the recent recovery process. However, both financial openness and trade linkages have also been a transmission channel for the financial crisis. Synchronized...

This paper discusses the First Progress Report on the implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) in Serbia. The Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) for Serbia and its implementation complement the efforts of Serbia in the European Union integration process. The PRSP also includes...

The key findings of Republic of Armenia’s Second Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper are reviewed. Macroeconomic and fiscal framework has been completely revised, taking into account the 2007 outcomes, tendencies developed during 2008, and challenges, particularly the projected increase of...

This paper discusses the Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (I-PRSP) of Grenada for poverty reduction in the interim period. It describes the country’s macroeconomic, structural, and social policies in support of growth and poverty reduction, as well as associated external financing...

This paper focuses on Cape Verde’s Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS). The GPRS is part of a broader strategic planning exercise that has been under way in Cape Verde and has as main pillars the Grand Options of the Plan 2002–05 (GOP) and the National Development Plan...

This 2005 Article IV Consultation highlights that Finland’s economic performance in recent years continued to be favorable. Growth has outpaced that in the euro area and is expected to pick up to more than 3 percent in 2006. The external current account has remained comfortably in...

This Second Progress Report on Tajikistan’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) discusses key developments in the status and dynamics of poverty-related indicators in the country during 2004. Although economic growth has generated significant reductions in poverty rates in the past...