This paper reviews Bangladesh’s Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (I-PRSP). The paper addresses the question as to “what are the broad lessons from the past development experience.†It captures the salient features of social progress notwithstanding the challenging odds...

This paper reviews Zambia’s Second Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) Implementation Progress Report. The report reviews the status of the Poverty Reducing Programs (PRPs) for July 2003–June 2004. It notes improvement in funding to priority PRPs from K140 billion in January...

The paper reports the progress of the Honduran poverty reduction strategy program, projects, and policy measures. The report provides details on the organization and results of the consultation process, and analyzes the macroeconomic framework for the poverty reduction strategy. An overview of...

The report reviews the Joint Staff Assessment (JSA) on Madagascar's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). The full PRSP is built on the interim poverty reduction strategy. The report evaluates both strengths and weaknesses of Madagascar's poverty reduction objectives and strategies, and...

To stimulate private sector credit expansions in Pakistan, the monetary policy has been accommodative while financial sector reforms have brought about a lowering of intermediation costs and bank spreads. Consequently, the weighted average lending rates have declined from 14.6 percent in June...

This paper reviews Uzbekistan’s Interim Welfare Improvement Strategy Paper (I-WISP). I-WISP defines the main directions and measures aimed at improving living standards and reducing poverty among the population of Uzbekistan for 2005–10. The strategy is designed to further expand...

This survey examines the implications of gender differences in economic behavior for macroeconomic policy. It finds that reducing gender inequality and improving the status of women may contribute to higher rates of economic growth and greater macroeconomic stability. Women's relative lack of...

This paper on the United Republic of Tanzania’s Poverty Reduction Strategy reports that increases in investments in infrastructure such as roads, telecommunications, mining, and tourism have been recorded owing to increased inflows of foreign direct investments and domestic revenue...

This is the third Annual Progress Report on the implementation of the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS). Both the budget and the GPRS propose to tackle issues including reduction in the domestic debt, reduction of inflation to single digits, increasing revenue mobilization, curtailing...

The Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy was implemented in an extremely challenging environment, adversely affecting the conduct of macroeconomic and sector policies. The accomplishments in regard to sector policies are highly encouraging. There was notable progress in the administration of...