This paper presents key findings of the Ex Post Assessment of Longer-Term Program Engagement for Bolivia. Bolivia is a country that is perceived as having one of the best structural reform records in Latin America but experienced sluggish per capita growth, and made virtually no progress in...

This paper discusses El Salvador’s Request for a Stand-By Arrangement and cancellation of the current arrangement. The program seeks to preserve financial stability, safeguard the economic recovery, and strengthen the medium-term fiscal position. Fiscal policy will aim at offsetting the...

There has been little systematic empirical study on the relationship between remittances and growth. This paper attempts to examine this relationship. Using a newly constructed crosscountry of data series for remittances covering a large sample of developing countries, we relate the interaction...

While the relationship between volatility and credit risk is central to much of the literature on finance and banking, it has been largely neglected in empirical macro studies on sovereign defaults. This paper presents new econometric estimates for a panel of 25 emerging market countries over...

During the past three decades, Jamaica has shown low economic growth and high public debt, and has faced other social challenges. To help restore competitiveness and improve financial market conditions, the authorities have come up with a comprehensive four-year economic program—2013/14...

This paper estimates the effects of trade liberalization on plant productivity. In contrast to previous studies, we distinguish between productivity gains arising from lower tariffs on final goods relative to lower tariffs on intermediate inputs. Lower output tariffs can produce productivity...

This paper presents the staff report for the combined Liberia’s 2008 Article IV Consultation and the first review under the Three-Year Arrangement under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility. The international community is supporting the Liberian government’s efforts to reform...

We examine one of the most important and intriguing puzzles in economics: why it is so hard to find a robust effect of aid on the long-term growth of poor countries, even those with good policies. We look for a possible offset to the beneficial effects of aid, using a methodology that exploits...

Lebanon recovered from the financial shock triggered by Prime Minister Hariri’s assassination. Executive Directors supported the strategy of debt reduction through sustained fiscal adjustment. They welcomed the proactive stance of banking sector supervision and encouraged adoption of a...