This paper presents the Joint Staff Assessment on Azerbaijan Republic’s Poverty Reduction Strategy. The incidence of poverty remains slightly higher among urban than rural households, and is associated with falling employment opportunities and earnings in the formal economy. Although Baku...

In recent years, fiscal performance in Central Europe has steadily deteriorated, in contrast to the improvement in the Baltics. This paper explores the determinants of such differences among countries slated for EU accession. Regression estimates suggest that economic and institutional...

The report highlights the actions taken by the authorities to address the issues raised by the 2002 Data Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC) mission for all macroeconomics statistics included in the ROSC exercise, namely national accounts, price, government finance, monetary,...

This paper examines the Joint Staff Assessment of Rwanda’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) progress report. The authorities have showed continued commitment to privatization of public enterprises. Financial management reform is on track, as are established targets in the social...

This paper reviews the Joint Staff Assessment on the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper of Vietnam. It analyzes the progress in achieving the Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy (CPRGS) goals and identifies the challenges. It assesses the macroeconomic performance, structural and...

This Selected Issues paper on Euro Area Policies underlies global rebalancing of accounts. From a growth-accounting perspective, slower growth in the capital-labor ratio seems to be the main driver behind the deceleration in labor productivity. The increase in bilateral trade was accompanied by...

This Selected Issues paper examines the role of information and communication technology (ICT) in the recent acceleration of labor productivity growth in the United States. The analysis reveals that the increase of total factor productivity (TFP) growth is a broad phenomenon that encompasses...

The Madagascar Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) includes detailed description of poverty developments and the profile of the poor. The diagnostic section shows that the rural poor largely depend on agriculture, especially the production of rice. The IMF staff especially commends the PRSP...

This paper explores the factors that have led to a Canada-U.S. productivity gap using a sectoral growth accounting approach. Both fiscal and monetary policies have had significant effects on the saving rate. The Canadian dollar’s appreciation was followed by a protracted period of...

The report reviews the Joint Staff Assessment (JSA) on Madagascar's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). The full PRSP is built on the interim poverty reduction strategy. The report evaluates both strengths and weaknesses of Madagascar's poverty reduction objectives and strategies, and...