Sub-Saharan African countries have been hit, in recent years, by a cascading series of shocks that have exacerbated fiscal vulnerabilities. Significant reforms are needed to rebuild buffers and preserve the sustainability of public finances. The paper argues that a strategic approach to fiscal...

This Selected Issues paper analyzes inflation dynamics in Australia, with a special focus on wages. The paper finds inflation dynamics in Australia are similar to what is seen in most advanced economies in recent quarters, with inflation primarily driven by cyclically sensitive components. While...

This Selected Issues paper focuses on labor productivity dynamics in Spain. Labor productivity has been a long-standing structural challenge in Spain. Productivity performance has been weak across several dimensions: labor productivity levels are significantly lower than in some peer economies,...

The report assesses the implementation of SISTAFE (Public Sector Financial Management System) and respective action plan and discusses with the Mozambican authorities the effectiveness of the ongoing public financial management reforms

Lesotho's fiscal situation is challenging. This paper assesses the pressure points of main components of revenues, current spending, and capital spending, and then proposes a growth-friendly consolidation plan while protecting the vulnerable

A key challenge for Lesotho is the downward rigidity in public expenditure-which increases when SACU transfers are buoyant but fails to be pared back when they fall. Fiscal rules would be of value in Lesotho to help provide constraints on spending and resist political pressure to overspend,...