This 2005 Article IV Consultation for Pakistan reports that macroeconomic performance continues to be strong, but inflation and external pressures are evident. High growth, including in agriculture, is estimated to have raised disposable incomes. The authorities’ ambitious growth...

This paper focuses on the Fourth Review Under the Staff-Monitored Program (SMP) for Afghanistan. Under the SMP, Afghanistan continued to make progress in improving macroeconomic management, strengthening its capacity to formulate policy, and creating conditions for sustainable economic growth....

This paper discusses the Fifth Review Under the Staff-Monitored Program (SMP) for Afghanistan. The authorities met all the end-June 2005 indicative quantitative targets and structural benchmarks under the SMP. Economic developments were broadly in line with the program projections made at the...

This paper examines Congo’s Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (I-PRSP). Congo’s I-PRSP explains the features and causes of poverty in Congo. It provides a short- and medium-term vision of development as well as a strategic orientation for a return to sustainable and equitable growth....

The paper discusses the consideration of Honduras’s Enhanced Initiative for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC). The interim relief provided under the enhanced HIPC Initiative has allowed the government to increase social spending. Controlling the public sector wage bill and...

This Joint Staff Advisory Note examines Congo’s Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (I-PRSP). The I-PRSP recognizes the lack of recent and good quality data on poverty, and recommends new surveys and studies to improve poverty assessment and analysis. On the basis of the sparsely...

This Joint Staff Advisory Note discusses key findings of the Second Annual Progress Report (APR) on Senegal’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). The APR acknowledges the uneven implementation of the PRSP in 2004 and highlights persistent weaknesses in key areas. It also recognizes...

The Joint Staff Advisory Note focuses on the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) for the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste. It highlights that the authorities are presenting Timor-Leste’s National Development Plan 2002 (NDP) and associated implementation documents to the Boards to...

When donors and recipients have different preferences over budgetary allocations, conditionality helps the implementation of donor-financed poverty reduction programs. However, if donors cannot perfectly monitor all recipients' actions, conditionality entails an inefficient allocation of...

Uganda's market-friendly development strategy and poverty reduction agenda have attracted large financial inflows, including aid. During 2000-02, concerns about a possible aid-induced Dutch disease were heightened by widening macroeconomic imbalances and an upward trend in the real effective...