Cash transactions for goods and services in which no receipts are issued greatly increase the risk of tax evasion. Despite the availability of banking services and alternative payment, key sectors of the economy remain largely cash-based in almost all developing countries. This paper shows the...

Financial repression resurfaced in the wake of the global financial crisis and might become a common feature in the post Covid-19 world. To advance knowledge and inform policy advice, this paper presents a new database on interest rate controls, a popular form of financial repression, based on a...

This paper analyzes the main trends and patterns of nominal lending interest rates and lending-deposit interest rate spreads in emerging markets and developing economies. Using data from 140 emerging markets and developing economies, analysis shows that nominal lending rates and spreads declined...

Debt vulnerabilities in low-income countries have increased substantially in recent years. Since 2013, median government debt has risen by about 20 percentage points of gross domestic product and increasingly comes from non-concessional and private sources. As a result, in most low-income...