The Republic of Congo is the third-largest crude oil producer in Sub-Saharan Africa after Nigeria and Angola and is heavily dependent on oil production and oil exports. With a population of 5.5 million, Congo is a lower middle-income economy, endowed with abundant natural resources. The economy...

The Lao PDR is facing unprecedented macroeconomic challenges, which jeopardize hard-won development gains. Over the past two decades, the country attracted considerable foreign investment and fostered regional integration, which contributed to a long period of high economic growth. Many human...

Mauritius's economy has grown dramatically since the country's independence in 1968, and its rapid development offers a powerful example for developing economies worldwide. However, growth dynamism has waned in recent years. In addition, Mauritius was hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and...

This Public Expenditure Review (PER) was prepared in response to a request from the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and is designed to inform Lesotho's fiscal consolidation due to a narrowing of its fiscal space. Lesotho is facing a tough macro-fiscal outlook due to a sharp decline in Southern African...

The analysis presented in this Public Expenditure Review (PER) is designed to support the efforts of the government of Gabon (GOG) to enhance public expenditure efficiency and improve the quality of public goods and services. The report reviews public expenditure data over an 8-year period,...

This Public Expenditure Review (PER) of the Kyrgyz Republic is part of the programmatic PER, which aims to help the government strengthen macro-fiscal policies and enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of public spending. To this end, this PER builds on progresses made since 2014 PER and...

Myanmar had a strong economic take off between 2011 and 2015, but sustaining it will depend on improvements to public services and infrastructure. Yet general government spending at 15 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) is much lower than what is needed to deliver these improvements, and...

Ghana has experienced an extended period of robust growth since the early 2000s, supported by a favorable external environment and large investment inflows, particularly in the extractive industries. In 2011, as the start of oil production drove a surge in per capita income, Ghana graduated from...

The Union of the Comoros is a small-island country in Eastern Africa that recorded a modest economic expansion and suffered from various fiscal challenges during the last decade that had an impact on long-term growth. Limited fiscal space to address development needs explains the country's low...

The first three chapters of the PFR review the core fiscal policy and revenue mobilization issues. Chapter 1 discusses the fiscal landscape, fiscal framework, and progressivity of fiscal policy. Chapter 2 looks at the footprint of quasi-fiscal activities, which affects the overall fiscal stance...