Poverty in Dominica exhibits the following: poor households tend to be larger than nonpoor households; poor households contain proportionately fewer persons of working age, and there is no significant difference in the gender distribution of poverty in the country. The challenges of this...

This Selected Issues paper and Statistical Appendix briefly surveys the progress achieved by Mali in the area of economic adjustment in the decade since 1988. This is followed by a discussion of the principal areas where the Malian government is considering the implementation of new reforms in...

This 2005 Article IV Consultation highlights that the Belizean economy grew by 4½ percent in 2004, mainly reflecting strong performance in the agriculture, fisheries, and tourism sectors. Inflation remained subdued at about 3 percent. The overall fiscal deficit of the central government,...

This Selected Issues paper assesses whether Latvia’s strategy to enter ERM2 and adopt the euro is appropriate. The paper examines the possibility of an exchange rate misalignment from various perspectives. It considers different notions of the real effective exchange rate and...

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 paper reviews the Staff-Monitored Program (SMP) for the Union of the Comoros. The authorities’ program for 2005 is focused on macroeconomic stabilization. This is predicated on a consolidated budget entailing a domestic fiscal adjustment slightly above 3 percent of GDP. Monetary...

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 on Sri Lanka reviews several issues that highlight both Sri Lanka’s accomplishments and their policy constraints amidst a protracted period of civil conflict and political instability. High intermediation costs have held back development of the financial sector...

In 1999, the economy of Argentina was affected owing to recession. More than half of the external account deficit was financed by net foreign direct investment. The public finances deteriorated in 1999, reflecting the impact of the recession on tax revenue, a weakening of tax compliance, a...

The report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC) data module provides a review of France’s data dissemination practices against the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS), complemented by an in-depth assessment of the quality of six...