St. Lucia showed strong growth performance owing to its strong investment in tourism infrastructure. Executive Directors commended the prudent public debt management and sound banking system. They underscored the need for fiscal consolidation and steps to promote domestic investment and labor...

Despite security risks and some major natural disasters, Indonesia has continued to make steady economic progress in recent years. Recent sound macroeconomic management has calmed inflation pressures, though financial markets remain volatile. In the short term, activity should regain momentum...

Macroeconomic developments benefited from oil windfalls, but structural problems still impede non-oil growth. Fiscal and external balances improved in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) because of the surge in oil prices and better fiscal management. Oil-related reserve...

A major element of the persistent fiscal imbalances in Guinea-Bissau is the relatively low level of revenue compared with other sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Fiscal revenues, including grants, trended downward significantly in Guinea-Bissau from 1991 through 2005, especially during the...

Despite abundant natural resources and arable land, Guinea-Bissau is ranked at the lowest end of the UN human development index, mainly because of the civil war of 1998–99 and the ensuing prolonged political instability and serious governance deficiencies thereafter. Since mid-2004,...

Honduras’s Third Review under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility and Request for Waiver and Modification of Performance Criteria are discussed. The current stance of monetary and exchange rate policies are broadly appropriate, and financial sector reforms are proceeding. Progress has...

The quality of the macroeconomic statistics for Malta has improved significantly in recent years, particularly as a result of the legal and institutional restructuring of the National Statistics Office (NSO). These changes were made in an effort to respond more effectively to the needs of users...

Burundi is in great need of investment in infrastructure, but fiscal constraints leave little room for additional public spending. Despite this initial recovery, Burundi has yet to rebuild its pre-civil war level of public capital stock. Improving the business climate is one of the keys to...

The government of Iraq is committed to reform the pension law before it goes into effect. Good progress has been made in setting up a payments system. The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) and ministry of finance are coordinating their strategy toward restructuring the state-owned banks. The government...

The methodological soundness of statistics in Tunisia is consistent in several areas with outdated international statistical standards. The Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT) is responsible for the collection, processing, and dissemination of monetary and balance of payments statistics. The accuracy...