Qatar has recently taken steps toward introducing a medium-term budget framework (MTBF) to enhance the predictability of spending decisions in the country. However, implementing medium-term fiscal planning requires formal procedural fiscal rules and parallel efforts to enhance the credibility of...

Greece’s deep recession has continued unabated, with the economy struggling to gain traction against domestic political instability and weak external conditions. Stronger internal devaluation is now under way, reflecting the interaction of labor market liberalization with the already weak...

After recovering rapidly from the Great Recession, the Canadian economy has slowed down in 2012. Growth weakened in the first three quarters of 2012, and recent indicators have suggested that the pace of economic expansion remained subpar in the fourth quarter. The fiscal policy has continued to...

The purpose of the study is to examine Peru’s effective interest spread through accounting decompositions, financial ratio analysis, and spread regressions. The government’s financial restructuring programs accelerated the banking sector consolidation process. Robustness of...

In recent years, the IMF has released a growing number of reports and other documents covering economic and financial developments and trends in member countries. Each report, prepared by a staff team after discussions with government officials, is published at the option of the member country.

This Selected Issues paper analyzes reforms to Mexico’s fiscal framework. Mexico’s resilient economic performance would be consolidated by increasing fiscal policy buffers and preparing for challenges associated with long-term budget pressures. In the short term, reducing public...

The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) is highly dependent on external aid. Following a recession in FY2006–08, the FSM economy has grown by 2–2½ percent for FY2010 and FY2011. The economy remains dependent on the large public sector, although the fisheries and agriculture...

The overarching policy challenge facing Nigeria is to reduce widespread poverty and unemployment. Macroeconomic performance was broadly positive, underpinned by buoyant international oil prices and prudent fiscal and monetary policies. The fiscal targets and the medium-term fiscal consolidation...

This Selected Issues paper examines application of fiscal framework alternatives to the case of Peru. Although growth has been at historical highs over the last decade, Peru still has an important infrastructure gap and a quarter of its population still lives in poverty. This paper applies...

This paper discusses Ireland’s Fiscal Transparency Assessment. The Irish government has ambitious plans to improve further the timeliness, quality, and comprehensiveness of its budgets, statistics, and accounts. Ireland has the capacity and information to bring its fiscal transparency...