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Books and Analytical Papers > IMF Staff Country Reports

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Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Qatar: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. Middle East and Central Asia Dept.
This Selected Issues paper aims to identify key reforms to accelerate Qatar’s economic transformation, estimate their impact, and shed light on the design of a comprehensive reform agenda. This paper starts by taking stock of Qatar’s progress in key reforms so far, identifying areas for further improvement, proposing structural reform measures, estimating the impact of key proposed reforms, and providing principles on the prioritization and sequencing of reforms. Qatar’s state-led, hydrocarbon intensive growth model has delivered rapid growth and substantial improvements in living standards over the past several decades. Guided by the National Vision 2030, an economic transformation is underway toward a more dynamic, diversified, knowledge-based, sustainable, and private sector-led growth model. The paper finds that labor market reforms could bring substantial benefits, particularly reforms related to increasing the share of skilled foreign workers. Certain reforms to further improve the business environment, such as improving access to finance, could also have large growth impact. A comprehensive, well-integrated, and properly sequenced reform package to exploit complementarities across reforms could boost Qatar’s potential growth significantly.
Keywords:
FIFA World cup; International Monetary Fund Washington, d.c; World Cup contribution; labor market dynamics; key reform; Labor market reforms; Labor force participation; Women; Climate finance; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Spain: 2022 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Spain
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This 2022 Article IV Consultation highlights that economic activity in Spain has remained resilient despite the new headwinds posed by the fallout of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Strong rebound in tourism and other services have supported growth this year. Policies to mitigate the surge in energy costs should shift to more targeted income support to the vulnerable, allowing price signals to incentivize demand and supply adjustments, while containing fiscal costs. The deterioration of the macroeconomic outlook and the rise in interest rates will likely erode borrowers’ repayment capacity. Banks need to maintain prudent levels of forward-looking provisions and should be encouraged to use capital buffers in case downside risks materialize. Spain is making progress on its ambitious reform agenda and the execution of investments under the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. Establishing a system of regular, data-driven, outcome-based evaluation of the reforms’ effectiveness will be important to ensure that they achieve the desired outcomes.
Keywords:
December CPI flash estimate; vis nonresident; headline CPI; staff report projection; money market rate; Inflation; Energy prices; Labor markets; Labor market reforms; Income; Global; Europe
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Spain: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
Selected Issues
Keywords:
transport sector emission; C. policy framework; carbon pricing scenario; climate change mitigation policy; employment incentive; Greenhouse gas emissions; Employment; Climate policy; Carbon tax; Global; Europe
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
New Zealand: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. Asia and Pacific Dept
Selected Issues
Keywords:
E. policy option; B. labor market; labor market issue; scarring effect; Law equation; Active labor market policies; Labor markets; Unemployment rate; Potential output; COVID-19; Global; Housing prices
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Republic of Lithuania: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This Selected Issues paper investigates skills mismatch and active labor market policy in Lithuania. Wage flexibility is underpinned by one of the lowest densities of trade union and employer organization and the rare occurrence of collective bargaining. Thus, wage setting largely happens at the firm level. Real wages and productivity have been traditionally closely linked and temporary deviations have been self-correcting. In contrast, structural unemployment has been traditionally high, although it appears to be gradually falling. Large structural unemployment can have a significant long-term impact on potential growth and, therefore, on employment. Lithuania suffers from relative labor shortage for high-skilled workers and surplus of low- and medium-skilled workers. Thus, there are labor shortages in skill-intensive sectors. Lithuania has shown a sharp rise in skills mismatch for the country in the aftermath of the crisis. Vacancy rates and wage growth by sectors also suggest an excess supply of lower skilled workers and shortage of high-skilled ones.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; Lithuania; interest rate gap; transmission mechanism; statistics Lithuania; wage growth; The Market; open economy; Labor markets; Active labor market policies; Output gap; Unemployment; Global; Europe; Eastern Europe; Western Europe
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Morocco: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. Middle East and Central Asia Dept.
This Selected Issues paper studies the potential for well-sequenced labor and product market reforms to play a more important role in promoting growth and job creation in Morocco. A Dynamic General Equilibrium model is used to assess the macroeconomic effects of different reform scenarios (isolated, coordinated, or sequenced) that reduce hiring costs and/or firms’ entry costs in the presence of a large informal sector. The paper highlights that reforms are most effective if executed in a coordinated fashion, as implementing simultaneous reforms in the labor and product markets could add about 2.5 percent of gross domestic product growth and reduce unemployment by about 2.2 percentage points after five years. If reforms are to be introduced sequentially, due for instance to capacity or political economy constraints, starting with product market reforms is more effective in boosting output in the short-run while starting with labor market reforms would reduce unemployment faster.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; cost; firm; labor market; market entry; hiring cost; enterprise survey; labor market regulation; economic growth; Labor markets; Unemployment; Employment; Labor market reforms; Job creation; Global; Middle East; North Africa; Africa