Public health spending is low in emerging and developing economies relative to advanced economies and health outputs and outcomes need to be substantially improved. Simply increasing public expenditure in the health sector, however, may not significantly affect health outcomes if the efficiency...

The inclusiveness of growth depends on the extent of access to economic and social opportunities. This paper applies the concept of social opportunity function to ascertain the inclusiveness of growth episodes in selected African countries. Premised on the concept of social welfare function,...

Since its independence in 1975, the Union of Comoros has been deeply affected by political and institutional crises. Resolution of the separatist crisis on the island of Anjouan and subsequent national consolidation has constituted a historic turning point. The government has begun a...

The first Annual Progress Report (APR) of Togo highlights many of the reforms implemented during the first year of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) while recognizing some weaknesses and implementation constraints. It draws attention to important advances in macrocritical structural...

This paper on the United Republic of Tanzania’s Poverty Reduction Strategy reports that increases in investments in infrastructure such as roads, telecommunications, mining, and tourism have been recorded owing to increased inflows of foreign direct investments and domestic revenue...

The Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) of the Republic of Tajikistan for 2010–12 aims to serve as a medium-term program for the implementation of the National Development Strategy up to 2015. It will determine the major socioeconomic development of the country during this period, taking...

This paper reviews the fiscal reform of the Czech Republic, its key reform measures, and structural implications. The study also focuses on key challenges and demographic pressures facing the Czech economy, and describes the analytical framework of Global Fiscal Model (GFM) with technical...

Following an evaluation of the first Poverty Reduction Strategy Framework (PRSF) of Mali, the government adopted the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy Framework (GPRSF) document, which aims at reducing poverty and achieving the MDGs. The Accelerated Growth Strategy, which maintains...

Developing and boosting the private sector, in the area of industry, trade, and private sector, actions for securing investment, promoting investment, developing partnerships in Madagascar produced positive results. The investment rate is 12.37 percent out of an objective of 14 percent. The...

This is the third Annual Progress Report on the implementation of the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS). Both the budget and the GPRS propose to tackle issues including reduction in the domestic debt, reduction of inflation to single digits, increasing revenue mobilization, curtailing...