This paper presents a Joint Staff Advisory Note on the Republic of Armenia’s Second Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). Armenia’s poverty and extreme poverty rates declined in 2006 to 26.5 percent and 4.1 percent of the population, respectively—results which surpassed...

In Kenya, the general government is not defined consistently with government finance statistics (GFS) principles. Relationships between the central government and public nonfinancial and financial corporations are generally clearly defined. Government holdings of fully owned corporations and...

This report on the Observance of Standards and Codes on Fiscal Transparency on Costa Rica analyzes open budget preparation and assurances of integrity. A number of initiatives currently under way would further advance fiscal transparency. A clearer division of responsibilities for monetary and...

This report provides an assessment of fiscal transparency practices in El Salvador. Many of the code standards are followed by the country. In addition, fiscal data dissemination and monthly updating will be improved with the recent incorporation of the Finance Ministry’s Fiscal...

This paper examines the consideration of the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe’s debt relief at the completion point under the enhanced Initiative for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries and Debt Relief under the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative. Lower-than-projected export...

This paper presents, for the first time, multi-dimensional indices of the quality of budget institutions in low-income countries. The indices allow for benchmarking against the performance of middle-income countries, across regions, and according to different institutional arrangements that...

Fiscal decentralization is likely to entail a bias in the budget process toward higher public expenses and deficits. The paper reviews lessons drawn from the theoretical literature and international experience on the design of intergovernmental relations. The institutional setup should address...

A stagnating economy and a marked rise in unemployment prevented the attainment of a balanced public budget in 2002. Because of the persistent cyclical weakness and of the tax reform envisaged for 2004-05, a balanced budget position will be achieved only after 2007. In spite of a noticeable...