Executive Directors commended Sudan's efforts to bring economic policies back on track and welcomed the establishment of a mechanism to save oil export receipts arising from higher-than-programmed oil prices, but underscored the need to strengthen budget control and monitoring systems. The audit...

Mauritania successfully completed its previous poverty reduction growth facility arrangement in December 2002. The focus of this report is on the effectiveness of policies adopted in the last few years and the medium-term strategy. Macroeconomic stability under the IMF-supported program and the...

This paper presents an assessment of the Democratic Republic of the Congo's eligibility for assistance under the enhanced initiative for heavily indebted poor countries. The country has made remarkable progress in consolidating the peace process, stabilizing the economic situation, and creating...

This 2002 Article IV Consultation highlights that since mid-2001, a combination of budget restraint, ambitious energy price adjustments, and prudent monetary policy moderated domestic demand and reduced the current account deficit in Romania. At the same time, export and GDP growth were among...

This 2002 Article IV Consultation highlights that following the political crisis, Fiji experienced sharp declines in tourism earnings, while external sanctions adversely affected investment and textile exports. As a result, GDP fell 2¾ percent in 2000, and the current account deficit widened...

We develop an early-warning model of sovereign debt crises. A country is defined to be in a debt crisis if it is classified as being in default by Standard & Poor's, or if it has access to nonconcessional IMF financing in excess of 100 percent of quota. By means of logit and binary recursive...

This paper examines Peru’s 2002 Article IV Consultation, First Review Under the Stand-By Arrangement, and a Request for Modification and Waiver of Performance Criteria. The fiscal policy was tightened in early 2002 from the expansionary stance in the second half of 2001. The baseline...

The Bahamas showed strong performance owing to its prudent macroeconomic management. Executive Directors welcomed this step, and emphasized the need to strengthen fiscal and international reserve positions, and diversify the economic base to maintain confidence and reduce economic...

The discussions focused on reviewing the reforms that were implemented since the last consultation, policies for the remainder of the year as well as the parameters of the 2004 program, and the medium-term outlook. Executive Directors encouraged the exchange and monetary systems, but additional...