The working age population is expected to grow faster in the Middle East than in any other region in the world between now and 2015—rising annually by 2.7 percent, or 10 million people. This demographic explosion presents the region with a major challenge in terms of providing jobs, incomes,...

Large cohorts of young adults are poised to add to the working-age population of developing economies. Despite much interest in the consequent growth dividend, the size and circumstances of the potential gains remain under-explored. This study makes progress by focusing on India, which will be...

Hong Kong SAR's economy is recovering strongly as ample policy space has allowed the enaction of swift and bold policy responses to address the unprecedented crisis emanating from multiple shocks, including notably the pandemic. But the recovery remains uneven, with private consumption lagging,...

This Selected Issues paper on Canada examines economic development and policies. Capital ratios before the crisis have been a key determinant of bank performance during the turmoil; and Canadian banks had ample capital. Specifically, most banks with critically low capital at end-2006 later...

Norway’s near-term macroeconomic priority is to reduce risks arising from high-household debt by tightening macroprudential standards for mortgage lending while undertaking tax reforms to gradually reduce incentives for excessive leverage. Creating a stronger institutional framework for...

This 2014 Article IV Consultation highlights that Qatar’s macroeconomic performance has remained strong. GDP growth slowed from 13 percent in 2011 to 6.2 percent in 2012, mostly owing to the self-imposed moratorium on additional hydrocarbon production from the North Field. Growth was 6.5...

This 2013 Article IV Consultation highlights that the Canadian economy strengthened in 2013 after a subdued performance in 2012, but the underlying growth has remained modest. Despite the depreciating exchange rate, non-energy exports remained well below the levels reached after earlier...

Singapore’s large financial sector has remained resilient. The output has shown to rebound strongly despite a drop of 9 percent in GDP during 2008-early 2009. The new challenges include consumer price inflation, income inequality, and rising housing prices. The downside risks for the...