This 2005 Article IV Consultation highlights that despite the better cyclical outlook, medium-term trends for Italy remain troubling: potential growth is estimated at just 1¼ percent, as low productivity growth and high domestic costs have led to a steady erosion of competitiveness and export...

This Technical Note examines the condition of the banking system for Pakistan. The number of commercial banks and various nonbank financial institutions in the country grew rapidly in the early 1990s. The privatization of state-owned banks has been accompanied by the liberalization in the...

This 2001 Article IV Consultation highlights that after an extended period of real convergence in living standards toward the euro area average, the Portuguese economy weakened markedly in 2001. GDP growth in 2001 is estimated at about 1.6 percent, about half the rate recorded over the previous...

This paper presents an assessment of Hungary’s antimoney laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism measures. The Hungarian authorities have made significant progress in strengthening their AML regime. The most important step has been the passage of a revised AML Act of...

This 2005 Article IV Consultation highlights that Guinea’s economic performance has deteriorated in recent years, largely as a result of a weak policy framework and against a background of mounting regional insecurity and low prices for its main commodity exports. Economic growth since...

This Selected Issues and Statistical Appendix paper on Gabon reviews management of oil revenues, competitiveness, and growth. The nature of Gabon’s problems has not changed during the past 15 years. The need to diversify the economy and the export base; control fiscal expenditure and the...

This Selected Issues paper on the United States explains the behavior of inflation and unemployment during 1997–98. The paper highlights that a simple Philips curve equation relating inflation to the unemployment gap has overpredicted inflation since 1993. The mean forecast error for...

This paper presents the Joint Staff Assessment on Azerbaijan Republic’s Poverty Reduction Strategy. The incidence of poverty remains slightly higher among urban than rural households, and is associated with falling employment opportunities and earnings in the formal economy. Although Baku...

This paper provides background material to the IMF staff report for the 1995 Article IV Consultation with Gabon. It provides an overview of Gabon’s economic and financial performance since independence, highlighting the five distinct phases and the economic strategies pursued by the...

This 2002 Article IV Consultation highlights that the economic situation in Ukraine has continued to improve in 2001. Real GDP growth is estimated to have increased from almost 6 percent in 2000 to 9 percent in 2001, mainly on account of double-digit growth of industrial output and a good grain...