To stimulate private sector credit expansions in Pakistan, the monetary policy has been accommodative while financial sector reforms have brought about a lowering of intermediation costs and bank spreads. Consequently, the weighted average lending rates have declined from 14.6 percent in June...

This paper reviews Benin’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) for 2003–05. Benin’s PRSP represents, on the one hand, an overall strategy for combating poverty which, instead of focusing solely on economic growth or exclusively on social services, integrates all the...