The resumption of economic growth in Latin America is predicated on the successful restoration of fiscal discipline and stabilization. In restoring fiscal discipline, the mix of policy instruments should aim at maximizing efficiency in the use of domestic and foreign resources. Poverty...

France is the top agricultural producer in the European Union (EU), and agriculture plays a prominent role in the country's foreign trade and intermediate exchanges. Reflecting production volumes and methods, the sector, however, also generates significant negative environmental and public...

The exposure of low-income countries to natural disasters has a significant impact on food production and food security. This paper provides a framework for assessing a country's vulnerability to food crisis in the event of natural disasters. The paper finds that macroeconomic and structural...

This paper examines the implications of elevated global food prices for inflation in select Central Asian economies - Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The findings suggest that global food inflation has significant short-run effects that build over time. Inflation...

In Jordan, a system of general food subsidies became untenable in budgetary terms, with a sharp devaluation of the dinar in the late 1980s. A shift from a general subsidy system to limited rations would greatly reduce budgetary costs and minimize adverse effects on the poor. To reduce subsidies,...

This paper analyses the dynamics of inflation in Kenya during 1974–96, a period characterized by external shocks and internal disequilibria. By developing a parsimonious and empirically constant error correction model the paper finds that the exchange rate, foreign prices, and terms of trade...

Capacity development is one of the IMF's core activities. Its impact is monitored through a Results-Based Management framework. Using for the first time the resulting dataset, the paper investigates how the likelihood of achieving targeted outcomes correlates with macroeconomic conditions and...

In the 1990s and early 2000s, Belize grew faster than its regional peers. By the mid-2000s, however, economic growth had slowed down to the regional average. A vicious circle of low growth and increasing public debt has been clouding Belize's outlook. This paper applies a growth diagnostic...