This paper reviews economic developments in Israel during the 1990s. The paper analyzes tax revenue shortfalls in 1995–97. The factors that have contributed to overruns in the budget deficit relative to its targeted level are examined. The analysis indicates that the main difficulty has...

Contents include: Budget deficit - concepts, measurements, and developments; definition, accounting basis, scope, and coverage. Structural reform issues: privatization; capital market reform; exchange and trade liberalization; other government intervention - investment subsidies and price...

This paper reviews institutional arrangements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (WBGS), the structural features of the economy, and macroeconomic developments and prospects during the 1990s. The paper discusses the technical assistance that the IMF staff has been providing in response to requests...

This Selected Issues paper and Statistical Appendix reviews developments in the structure of the Israeli banking sector, as well as in the key indicators of soundness and profitability in recent years. The paper highlights that Israel’s financial system continues to be dominated by a small...

Health policy has been for some time high on the agenda of many countries--and where it has not, it should be. Since no ideal model of health services has ever been devised 9 one may look for favorable elements in the health sector of a given country and examine their applicability to other...

KEY ISSUES Context. The economy is growing at a moderate pace. Abstracting from the impact of new large-scale natural gas production, GDP growth is estimated to have moderated to about 21⁄2 percent in 2013, owing in large part to weak investment and exports. Some pick up is expected in 2014,...

"What does US aid 'buy' in the Middle East? Drawing on extensive primary source research, this book examines the role and consequences of US aid to three countries in the Middle East. The author argues that the political survival strategies of incumbent leaders in Egypt, Israel, and Jordan...

Comparing the performances of the Austral, Cruzado and Sheqel programs shows that the latent suggestion that a “heterodox” stabilization program can be implemented without tight fiscal discipline to support a restrictive monetary policy, though welcome in the politicial arena, is...

This paper strengthens the claim made by Vito Tanzi that when the effect of a high inflation on the tax system is taken into account, then the overall revenues from inflationary finance may well be negative. The paper analyzes some genuine and neat measures taken in Israel in an attempt to...

Although accommodative policies and widespread indexation may account for the persistence of high inflation, they cannot explain changes in the inflation rate. This paper examines the causes of such changes for the high-inflation episodes immediately preceding the recent “heterodox” attempts...