Indonesia’s external borrowing spreads increased by more than 1000 bps from mid-2007 to late 2008, before subsiding in recent months. The large increase in spreads prompted questions about whether the spreads adequately reflect the improvements in fundamentals made over the past few...

The Executive Board of the IMF has completed the seventh review of Liberia’s economic program under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF). The completion of the review enables the disbursement of SDR 4.44 million, which will bring total disbursements under the arrangement to SDR 243.5...

This paper discusses key findings of the Second Review Under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) for the Republic of Congo. Policy implementation through the first half of 2009 was satisfactory. All quantitative performance criteria and all but one of the structural benchmarks were...

The Swaziland economy continues to suffer from the global economic crisis and an overvalued real exchange rate. The fiscal crisis is starting to affect external stability. Notwithstanding the fiscal crisis, banks continue to remain well capitalized and profitable. The 2011–12 budget...

Lebanon is facing a difficult global, regional, and domestic environment simultaneously for the first time in more than a decade. Domestic policies should aim at instilling confidence and tackling key policy challenges, such as preserving macroeconomic stability and paving the way for a more...

Staff Report for the 2012 Article IV consultation, prepared by a staff team of the IMF, following discussions that ended on July 23, 2012, with the officials of Sudan on economic developments and policies. Based on information available at the time of these discussions, the staff report was...

This staff report for Zimbabwe highlights the key macroeconomic challenges of taking steps to improve fiscal and external sustainability and increase financial sector stability. Zimbabwe has made good progress in restoring macroeconomic stability since the end of hyperinflation in 2009, but the...

The labor market remains weak, disinflation has slowed, but falling wages are improving competitiveness. The weak economic environment is putting pressure on the banking sector. Financial conditions have deteriorated recently because of international financial market tensions. The Bank of Latvia...

This paper presents the first assessment report under the Staff-Monitored Program (SMP) for Kosovo. The policies under Kosovo’s SMP target decisive steps toward fiscal sustainability and stronger budget management and execution. Performance under the SMP has been largely satisfactory to...

This paper discusses key findings of the Third Review Under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) for Togo. The PRGF-supported program remains on track despite the shocks. All quantitative and structural performance criteria through end-June 2009 were met. All targets for...