Estonia’s commitment to free markets and prudent financial policies has paid off handsomely. Demand pressures and rapid productivity growth have produced strong wage increases and large employment gains. Inflation, while moderate for a fast-converging economy, remains above the Maastricht...

El Salvador has made major strides on several fronts since the peace accords of 1992. The near-term outlook has strengthened, although challenges remain. The authorities are intended to limit tax exemptions and subsidies, and raise priority of banking reforms this year. Discussions focused on...

This Selected Issues paper contains two studies examining key issues for fiscal management and long-term fiscal sustainability in Spain. The first study discusses how best to ensure fiscal discipline at lower levels of government by examining the institutional setting and mechanisms that make...

Although Armenia itself has a population of only about 3 million, an estimated 8 million Armenians live abroad. In this paper, the size and the sources of remittances to Armenia are first discussed. Then, the appropriate definition of remittances and subsequently present estimates of the...

Overall, macroeconomic performance has remained strong since the conclusion of the last Article IV Consultation. The authorities have introduced market-opening legislation in line with WTO requirements, but state-owned commercial banks (SOCBs) and state-owned enterprise (SOE) reforms remained...

This note is on Korea’s transition to a knowledge-based economy, the prospects and challenges ahead, and the development of its financial sector. Assessment of recent government initiatives to develop capital markets has been presented. The note discusses restrictions on Chaebol ownership of...

Important progress can be seen in the economic and policy environment in Portugal, but challenges remain. Firm implementation of strategy is essential to meet these challenges. It will be essential that expenditure measures move to the forefront, realizing the planned shift away from...

This paper leverages a novel survey among German senior government officials to investigate fiscal responses to monetary policy shocks. Using randomized vignette treatments, we present officials with scenarios of increased government interest costs and analyze their expected fiscal adjustments....