The staff report for the First Review Under the Stand-By Arrangement and Requests for Waiver of Performance Criterion and Waiver for Nonobservance of Performance Criterion highlights Peru’s policy discussions and staff appraisal. A draft law was prepared with a view to establishing...

This Ex-Post Assessment of Longer-Term Program Engagement for Ghana explains its experience with particular attention to the IMF's role. Progress in structural reform was slow, but Ghana also avoided mistakes made by some countries that introduced reforms without enough public support....

This paper discusses a Request from Congo for a Three-Year Arrangement Under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) program. Growth in Congo in 2008 was strong, but weakened by the onset of the global financial crisis during the second half of the year that resulted in a deterioration...

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Poverty Reduction Strategy paper reports that significant progress has been made since the late 1990s in building both a market economy and a single economic space. GDP growth has slowed recently following the post-conflict bounce, and the current account deficit...

Fueled by a rebound in agriculture and improved electricity supply, economic growth reached 6.7 percent in 2006–07, and is on track to exceed 7 percent in 2007–08. In mid-2007, significant portfolio capital inflows put pressure on liquidity management. In the first quarter of...

Comoros faces significant economic and political challenges. The fiscal priorities are to restore revenues and curtail spending so that domestic arrears can be reduced and the program brought back on track. Clearing external arrears is a key hurdle to debt sustainability. Improvements to the...

Latin America has experienced a resurgence in growth in recent years. However, it is also a region that has been prone to crises while growth has not delivered a significant reduction in poverty and inequality. Maintaining a strong and stable macroeconomic performance in Latin America will...

This paper assesses the performance of Peru’s alternative fiscal rules in supporting medium-term fiscal policy objectives. Peru has shown steady fiscal surpluses and declining debt vulnerabilities. Subnational government constrains to borrow internationally have been relaxed, which could...

Italy’s economic development after the recession is analyzed in this study. Earnings were hampered by low net interest and high loan-loss provisions, but banks remained profitable. A large and stable retail funding base and ample collateral to access eurosystem refinancing helped Italian...

This 2006 Article IV Consultation highlights that an acute electricity crisis threatens Uganda’s macroeconomic performance. The regional drought in 2005/06 reduced Uganda’s already inadequate hydropower-generating capacity, resulting in a production gap of nearly one-half of...