This 2007Article IV Consultation highlights that after surging in the first quarter of 2006, real GDP growth in Canada slowed subsequently, in part reflecting a cooling in the United States. Domestic demand remained the main driver of the economy, with private consumption expanding a robust...

Mali has made progress in reducing macroeconomic imbalances, improving the competitiveness of the economy, and alleviating economic distortions under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) Arrangement. Executive Directors commended this step, and stressed the need to maintain fiscal...

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries face important policy challenges and opportunities. This paper covers the economic developments and policies since 1980; the impact of the GCC's external environment; the medium-term economic prospects; the broad outlines of a common adjustment and reform...

This paper is based on an internal report prepared by the IMF staff in connection with the application of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic (Czechoslovakia) for membership in the IMF. The paper surveys the economic system that had developed up to the time of the reforms begun in 1987 and...

This paper discusses the main features of Spain's recent adjustment effort and assesses its impact on the overall economic situation. It provides a brief historical background on Spain's economic development from 1960 to the early 1980s. The chapter also discusses the authorities' stance on...

Banking sector problems have plagued over 130 of the IMF's member countries since 1980. Developing and industrial market economies alike have been affected, as have all the economies in transition. This volume, by Carl-Johan Lindgren, Gillian Garcia, and Matthew I. Saal, discusses the linkages...

This volume, edited by Sir Frank Holmes of the Institute of Policy Studies in New Zealand, contains the proceedings of a seminar held in Wellington, New Zealand. The seminar concentrates on problems of economic adjustment facing countries in the South Pacific. Subjects covered in the eight...

This paper discusses comparison of economic and social indicators in the year 1988 between Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and German Democratic Republic (GDR). The budgetary costs of unification will be substantially larger than initially envisaged. Moreover, if one adds to the budget the...

This paper assesses empirically the links among a country''s institutions and political environment, its implementation of IMF-supported programs, and macroeconomic performance in a sample of 197 programs approved between 1992 and 2002. We find that a stronger institutional and political...

It is typically assumed that countries in the Caribbean suffer from a lack of output and export diversification. Contrary to this popular perception, we find no evidence that output variability is higher in Caribbean countries than in larger, more diversified, developing economies. In addition,...