Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in sub-Saharan Africa, ranking 146 out of 177 on the United Nations Human Development Index. The country has one of the lowest tax revenue-to-GDP ratios in the world (10.1 percent in 2005). To address these challenges, the authorities are requesting a...

This paper discusses key findings of the Sixth Review under Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) for Benin. The macroeconomic outlook is weaker for 2009–10, reflecting the impact of the crisis. Real GDP growth is expected to slow down to about 3–4 percent in 2009–10....

This article is an empirical analysis on tax collections in the Philippines. The tax system is characterized by a rule of tax incentives provided by 13 investment agencies. Tax collections showed regular growth. The GDP ratio increased from 12.1 percent (2009) to 12.8 percent (2012), but the...

This paper discusses key findings of the Ex Post Assessment of Longer-Term Program Engagement for Mongolia. The paper assesses Mongolia’s progress in implementing its transition to a market economy, economic stabilization, and reform programs supported by the IMF during 1991–2004,...

Public sector revenue has declined markedly in the Philippines over the past seven years. Most observers of the Philippine economy agree that rebuilding public sector revenue will be critical to reducing deficits and ensuring public sector debt sustainability. This paper reviews several of the...

Despite recording double digit growth since 2000, Armenia's tax-to-GDP ratio has been fairly stable at about 14½ percent. This paper catalogues a range of factors that may account for Armenia's stubbornly for tax collection by benchmarking Armenia's tax-to-GDP against some comparator...

This paper analyzes the impact of decentralization on overall fiscal performance in the European Union, taking into account fiscal institutional arrangements. We find that spending decentralization has been associated with sizably better fiscal performance, especially when transfer dependency of...

In many countries the decentralization of spending responsibilities has outpaced the decentralization of revenue powers. Sub-national governments have then to rely on transfers from the center and borrowing to finance their spending. When this occurs, we find that the overall fiscal deficit...

Since the conclusion of the last Article IV Consultation in October 2001, Georgia's macroeconomic performance has been encouraging. The 2003 Article IV Consultation and program discussions were held against the backdrop of protracted deviations from the IMF-supported program. Discussions with...