Being indebted represents significant risks associated with global financial instability in a world where financial stability hangs precariously between debt and economic growth. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) casts a critical eye over countries navigating the perilous seas of fiscal...

Liberia continues to face substantial long-term development challenges. Resource constraints and substantial gaps in infrastructure and human capital have hindered Liberia's growth prospects and the authorities' efforts to improve living standards. Addressing these challenges will require...

Cabo Verde's recent strong economic growth is driven by tourism, exports, private consumption, and remittances, but hampered by slow government investment. The government has maintained macro-financial stability but faces risks from global uncertainties, supply chain issues, and commodity price...

Economic activity has slowed reflecting falling natural gas production, lower public investment execution, financial volatility, and disruptions due to socio-political tensions. Bolivia's inflation rate remains one of the lowest in the region, sustained by price controls and costly subsidies....

The Board approved Ethiopia's request for a four-year arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF arrangement) in July 2024 to support the authorities' Homegrown Economic Reform Agenda. The Fund-supported program addresses macroeconomic imbalances, aiming to restore external debt...

Niger remains trapped in high levels of fragility and conflict, which are exacerbated by climate shocks. This year, flooding combined with heavy rain affected more than 1.5 million people. The socio-political environment remains challenging. Political instability and sanctions following the...

The authorities have requested a three-month extension of the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement set to expire on January 20, 2025. The three-year arrangement was approved by the Executive Board on January 21, 2022, with access of SDR 324.0 million (200 percent of quota). The extension...

The authorities have requested a new ECF-supported program, to deepen reforms undertaken under the previous program (completed in July 2024). They have also requested a program under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF)

This gap-filling paper provides granular advice on how to design quantitative and structural conditionality of IMF-supported programs in six expenditure policy areas: social assistance, energy subsidies, pension spending, health spending, education spending, and wage bill management. Such...

Recent developments. Haiti is facing exceptionally challenging circumstances. The deteriorating security environment, which reached crisis proportions in the first few months of 2024, has continued to worsen, disrupting supply chains (particularly energy and basic services) and feeding...