Egypt is in a precarious economic situation reflecting a difficult external environment, political uncertainty, and weak economic policies. International reserves have been declining rapidly to a low level, driven by a sizeable current account deficit and large capital outflows. Large spending...

The paper reviews the historical experience of developing countries with bond issues in international markets in order to put the recent wave of bond financing by these countries in some perspective. It examines developments in the early part of this century and during the mid-1970s and early...

The finances of the Czech pension system have deteriorated markedly in recent years and the aging population will add fiirther strains in the future. The system is also burdened by significant distortions and disincentive effects. This paper assesses the current pay-as-you-go (PAYG) system,...

The primary purposes of this study were two-fold: i) to identify some of the key issues and challenges being faced by New Member States (NMS) in the management of their public investment programs; and ii) to identify good practice examples and persistent challenges faced by European Union (EU)...

This report concerns recent pension reforms in Europe. Over the last decade, pension reform has been a major issue on the political agenda across Europe. All European countries are profoundly affected by aging populations resulting from lower fertility and increased life expectancy. In order to...

In this paper we review the theory and international evidence on the links between public finances and growth, including through the link between taxation, employment, and investment, and look at the evidence on these relationships in the EU8 countries over the past decade - both at the...

The finances of the Czech pension system have deteriorated markedly in recent years and the aging population will add further strains in the future. The system is also burdened by significant distortions and disincentive effects. This paper assesses the current pay-as-you-go (PAYG) system,...

The paper reviews the historical experience of developing countries with bond issues in international markets in order to put the recent wave of bond financing by these countries in some perspective. It examines developments in the early part of this century and during the mid-1970s and early...