Despite the apparent recovery, the economies of developed countries seem to enter again in recession. The most important signs of this possibility are the precarious state of the labor market, consumer skepticism and lack of confidence and a global debt crisis by which the national governments...

This paper presents Mali’s First Review under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility, and requests for Waiver of Nonobservance of Performance Criteria. The food and fuel price shocks have begun to moderate, partly because of the authorities' supply-side measures and declining oil...

This study is carried out against a backdrop of deep divisions in Greece and in Europe over how to handle the challenges now confronting Greece. Greece’s deeper medium-term policy needs and identifying ways to replace the expected market financing are discussed. Structural reforms tackled...

This paper presents key findings of the Ex Post Assessment of Longer-Term Program Engagement for Bolivia. Bolivia is a country that is perceived as having one of the best structural reform records in Latin America but experienced sluggish per capita growth, and made virtually no progress in...

The staff report for the 2004 Article IV Consultation on Greece focuses on economic developments and policies. Rising incomes and a falling, though still high, unemployment rate underpinned strong household consumption, while increased profitability spurred investment spending, especially...

This 2002 Article IV Consultation highlights that the economic activity in Tonga rebounded modestly in 2001/02, as real GDP growth accelerated from about ½ percent in 2000/01 (fiscal year July–June) to 1½ percent in 2001/02. Conditions in agriculture improved owing to record-high...