Pakistan showed great achievements under the program supported by the Stand-By Arrangement. Executive Directors stressed the need to implement strong fiscal, monetary, and exchange rate policies, and accelerate structural reforms. They emphasized the need for enhancing governance,...

Switzerland has had a mixed macroeconomic performance over the past quarter century. After stagnating in the 1990s, the Swiss economy has finally shown some spark. Registered unemployment has declined sharply during the upswing and was below 2 percent in early 2001 amidst reports of increasing...

This paper reviews economic developments in Kenya during 1990–95. Real GDP growth decelerated from 4.3 percent in 1990 to close to zero in 1992/93. Inflation accelerated from 12 percent in the 12-month period ended December 1989 to 34 percent in March 1993. The central government’s...

This paper evaluates Niger’s Third Review Under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) Arrangement and Requests for Modification and Waiver of Performance Criteria. Performance under the program at end-December 2001 was broadly satisfactory, despite delays in foreign assistance...

This paper presents an update to the Report on Observance of Standards and Codes on Fiscal Transparency Module for Azerbaijan. Reforms aimed at delineating the roles of the public and private sector in Azerbaijan have moved forward, but a significant amount of work still lies ahead. During 2002,...

The paper discusses the cures available for the economic malaise that can arise because nominal interest rates cannot be reduced below zero. However, a sufficiently high rate of target inflation can prevent the occurrence. The paper highlights a number of important issues in understanding the...

This paper discusses Serbia and Montenegro’s Sixth Review Under the Extended Arrangement, Financing Assurances Review, Request for Waivers of Nonobservance of Performance Criteria, and Proposed Post-Program Monitoring. Program implementation since the fifth review has been mixed, delaying...

The report on the Antigua and Barbuda’s Observance of Standards and Codes on Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision is examined. Aggregated assets reported by the offshore banking sector totaled about US$3.0 billion, equivalent in size to about four times the GDP, as on...

The staff report for the combined consultation and 2005 Article IV Consultation on Gabon highlights economic developments and policies. Preparing Gabon for the post-oil era requires strengthening the efficiency of the public sector and providing a framework for private sector development to...

This paper presents an update to the Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes Fiscal Sector Modules for Israel. The 2000–01 Financial Sector Assessment Program mission assessed Israel’s compliance with the Basel Core Principles for effective banking supervision. Israel was...