The Czech Republic has embarked on an ambitious tax reform and expenditure package to bring the deficit sustainably below 3 percent, and intends to reduce the deficit to 1 percent of GDP by 2012. To address the long-term fiscal challenge due to population aging, pension reform proposals are also...

This paper analyzes the performance of the Bulgarian private defined contribution pensions in the second and third pillars of the pension system.

How will the world-wide decline in real interest rates associated with global aging affect small open economies (SOEs) with aging populations? Lower interest rates will result in higher capital-labor ratios and increased wages; higher wages, in turn, will be passed on to pension benefits,...

The goal of this study is to present an insider view on the pension reforms implemented in Hungary between 1996 and 2009. Both political economy as well as institutional economics will be used as the main approaches to analyse and explain the reform process and some of its effects. The following...

This paper examines Colombia’s 2002 Article IV Consultation and Request for Stand-By Arrangement. The economic situation worsened in the first half of 2002. Economic activity has remained sluggish, and the fiscal consolidation has gone off-track. Exacerbated by increased contagion from...

This 2005 Article IV Consultation highlights that economic activity in Austria gathered speed in 2004, supported mostly by strong export performance. Growth of real GDP rose to 2.2 percent in 2004. Consumption growth was modest, in view of small gains in employment and nominal wage growth barely...

This 2004 Article IV Consultation highlights that a cyclical recovery is under way for Italy, with real GDP having risen by 1.2 percent in the first three quarters of 2004 relative to the same period of the previous year, thanks to the favorable external environment and a recovery of investment....

This paper focuses on the nexus between pension funds' balance sheet liabilities, reflecting their age profile and payments obligations, and the investment behavior and costs of these funds. The context of the analysis is the stringent regulatory framework and the highly fragmented and...