Pakistan has been facing significant economic difficulties. With sharp increases in oil and food prices, and adverse security developments, Pakistan has experienced a significant widening of the fiscal deficit, owing in large part to increasing energy subsidies and major pressures on its balance...

This paper presents the staff report for the combined Liberia’s 2008 Article IV Consultation and the first review under the Three-Year Arrangement under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility. The international community is supporting the Liberian government’s efforts to reform...

This Selected Issues paper evaluates the size of fiscal multipliers in Korea using the IMF’s Global Integrated Monetary and Fiscal model calibrated for Korea. The sensitivity of the results to a number of key factors is explored. Based on this, the impact of the recent fiscal stimulus...

This paper presents the staff report for Peru’s 2008 Article IV Consultation, Fourth Review and Inflation Consultation under the Stand-By Arrangement and request for waiver of applicability of performance criteria. Peru has been liberalizing external trade through tariff reductions in...

This Joint Staff Advisory Note provides feedback from the World Bank and IMF staff on the first and second progress reports on the Madagascar Action Plan (MAP)—the poverty reduction and growth strategy for 2007–12. Progress on governance has been reported with improvements in the...

The Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) countries financial system has increasingly come under stress particularly through weakly supervised nonbank and offshore financial sectors with knock-on effects to domestic banks. The staff report focuses on ECCU’s 2009 discussion on common...

The Lebanese financial system has so far weathered the global financial crisis. The 2009 Article IV Consultation highlights that deposit inflows decelerated briefly in the aftermath of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, but have resumed at a rapid pace since then. Executive Directors have welcomed...

This paper discusses key findings of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) for Côte d’Ivoire. The paper reveals that poverty is more acute in rural areas than in urban areas of Côte d’Ivoire. The increase of poverty is greater in the city of Abidjan, with about a 50 percent increase,...

Economic growth in Equatorial Guinea recovered sharply in 2007. The opening of a new oil field in late 2006 and a liquefied natural gas facility in mid-2007, supported by increased public infrastructure spending, lifted 2007 economic growth to an estimated 21.4 percent. Executive Directors have...

This 2008 Article IV Consultation highlights that Sierra Leone’s macroeconomic performance in 2008 was mixed. Output growth reached 6.4 percent in 2007, led by solid agricultural and mining production and buoyant activity in the construction and services sectors. The external current...