This paper focuses on selected aspects of Italy’s fiscal situation, its origins, and its pervasive economic consequences. The paper analyzes different aspects of regional duality and the unbalanced recovery. The paper highlights that regional duality is a salient feature of the Italian...

This Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC) Data Module provides a review of Poland's data dissemination practices against the IMF's Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS), complemented by an in-depth assessment of the quality of Poland's national accounts, consumer price...

This Selected Issues paper examines conditions in Colombian labor markets, which present a big challenge to the country. At end-2004, the unemployment rate amounted to 12 percent, and about one-third of the labor force was considered underemployed. The paper reviews labor market developments...

The development of the Croatian financial sector has faced many of the difficulties experienced by other transition countries. Recent troubles have exacted a significant macroeconomic price but the strategy implemented by the Croatian National Bank (CNB) since the approval of the new banking law...

In this paper, the implementation of the activities under the interim poverty reduction strategy and progress toward the elaboration of poverty reduction strategy are described. Institutional framework is strengthened by the creation of the inter-ministerial committee on the implementation of...

This paper describes economic developments in Tonga during the 1990s. From 1993 to 1996, financial policies were quite expansionary. Following the licensing of two new banks, credit growth accelerated in 1994. The National Reserve Bank of Tonga initially adopted an accommodating stance, but in...

This Selected Issues paper investigates the economic importance of institutions in Ukraine, and attempts to quantify the potential benefits of market-friendly structural reforms. The paper reviews some of the key findings of the development-accounting literature, which has tried to explain the...

An important aim of this paper is to take shifts in the long-term anchor in the empirical specifications. The study examines exchange-rate pass-through and external adjustment in the euro area. The impact on third-country trade and investment is also discussed. A better understanding of the...

This paper describes economic developments in Ecuador during the 1990s. Inflation fell from an average of about 50 percent in 1988–92 to 22 percent in April 1995. Economic activity rebounded, and international reserves were rebuilt. Relations with foreign creditors were normalized through...

This 2004 Article IV Consultation highlights that economic activity has been gathering speed in Estonia. Year-over-year growth accelerated to 6.8 percent in 2004 Q1 from 5.8 percent in 2003 Q1, driven by domestic demand and supported by technology sector exports. Inflation accelerated in the...