Liberia made slow progress on the implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS). The impact of the global economic crisis affected implementation and slowed the pace of growth. With the development of the Public Financial Management (PFM) framework, a PRS deliverable, the credibility of...

The Ethiopian authorities have been generally responsive to the policy recommendations from the 2008 Article IV Consultation. To help rebuild international reserves and improve external competitiveness, the authorities made another exchange rate adjustment (a 5 percent devaluation) on January...

Mozambique showed considerable resilience to the global crisis. The government responded to the crisis by promptly easing macroeconomic policies. The Policy Support Instrument (PSI) provided an effective and flexible framework to guide policies during the crisis, and program performance has been...

This Technical Note reviews crisis management framework in Serbia. In light of the banking crisis in Serbia in late 2008 and early 2009, a series of measures were introduced to urgently address stability concerns. The report recommends that crisis management memoranda of understanding (MOUs) be...

This Technical Note reviews banking sector soundness and stress testing in Serbia. Serbia’s banking sector is well capitalized and liquid, but the corporate sector’s weak performance is a source of concern because of its adverse impact on nonperforming loans. Stress tests indicate that banks...

This Selected Issues paper focuses on the issues of fiscal policy, rebalancing, and growth in New Zealand. The paper discusses that a key policy challenge for New Zealand is to rebalance the economy and reduce external vulnerabilities. It provides model-based estimates of the potential...

This Joint Staff Advisory Note reviews the National Development Plan (NDP) 2010/11 to 2014/15 prepared by the government of Uganda. The NDP is the first in a series of six plans intended to move the country toward the national vision of a transformed modern economy in the next 30 years. The NDP...

This 2009 Article IV Consultation discusses that the impact of the global financial crisis on Syria has been relatively moderate and mostly through linkages to trading partners in the GCC and Europe. Lower growth in manufacturing, construction, and services was partially offset by a moderate...

This paper discusses key findings of the Fourth Review Under the Stand-By Arrangement for Mongolia. All end-December performance criteria were met, and the indicative limit on the fiscal deficit was met with a comfortable margin. Inflation, after falling rapidly into negative territory for the...

This paper discusses key findings of the Fourth Review Under the Stand–By Arrangement for Belarus. All end-December quantitative and continuous performance criteria and structural benchmarks were met. Discussions focused on confirming the authorities’ commitment to program objectives,...