The Russian federal government has recently initiated a fundamental reform of its budget system, encompassing important policy, procedural, and institutional changes. This paper reviews this reform agenda with reference to the experience of industrial countries that over the past two to three...

This paper reviews the 2004 Semiannual IMF Staff Report Under Intensified Surveillance for Nigeria. Overall economic performance in the first half of 2004 was commendable. The implementation of sound macroeconomic policies, underpinned by a conservative reference oil price and savings of the oil...