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Africa > Malawi

You are looking at 1 - 4 of 4 items for :

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Cover Staff Discussion Notes
Macro-Structural Policies and Income Inequality in Low-Income Developing Countries
Ms. Stefania Fabrizio
,
Davide Furceri
,
Mr. Rodrigo Garcia-Verdu
,
Ms. Grace B Li
,
Mrs. Sandra V Lizarazo Ruiz
,
Ms. Marina Mendes Tavares
,
Mr. Futoshi Narita
, and
Adrian Peralta
Despite sustained economic growth and rapid poverty reductions, income inequality remains stubbornly high in many low-income developing countries. This pattern is a concern as high levels of inequality can impair the sustainability of growth and macroeconomic stability, thereby also limiting countries’ ability to reach the Sustainable Development Goals. This underscores the importance of understanding how policies aimed at boosting economic growth affect income inequality. Using empirical and modeling techniques, the note confirms that macro-structural policies aimed at raising growth payoffs in low-income developing countries can have important distributional consequences, with the impact dependent on both the design of reforms and on country-specific economic characteristics. While there is no one-size-fits-all recipe, the note explores how governments can address adverse distributional consequences of reforms by designing reform packages to make pro-growth policies also more inclusive.
Keywords:
SDN; productivity; rate; revenue; Income inequality; growth; macro-structural policies; resource mobilization; infrastructure investment; financial sector reform; financial inclusion; agriculture; cash transfer program; higher-productivity sector; inequality in low-income developing countries; productivity gap; cost of capital; income fluctuation; Value-added tax; Income; Agricultural sector; Income distribution; Caribbean
Cover External Evaluation of the ESAF
External Evaluation of the ESAF
International Monetary Fund

Abstract

One result of the IMF's move to increased openness are independent external evaluations of important IMF policies, to complement its own in-house evaluations. This paper, prepared by a team of evaluators, includes in addition to the external evaluation, a statement by Bernd Esdar, Chairman of the Executive Director's group concerned with external evaluations; the summing up by IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus of the Executive Board's discussion of the report; the terms of reference; and the IMF staff's response to the evaluation.

Keywords:
BOOK; country; ESAF; fund; ESAF program; fund staff; ESAF-supported program; ESAF country; evaluation report; Income; Personal income; Africa; Global; West Africa; Asia and Pacific; Debt service ratios; Caribbean
Cover Social Safety Nets
Social Safety Nets
Issues and Recent Experience

Abstract

The 14 papers that comprise this book, edited by Ke-young Chu and Sanjeev Gupta, provide a comprehensive review of the IMF's work on social safety nets. Part I provides a broad overview of the social concerns in structural policy and the basic work related to social safety nets. Part II deals with the design of social safety nets. Part III provides case studies on nine countries from different parts of the world.

Keywords:
BOOK; government; price; wage bill; retirement age; price effect; ESAF program; transition country; Income; Pension spending; Social assistance spending; Wages; Personal income; Eastern Europe; Baltics; Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa; Middle East; East Asia; Pensions; Caribbean
Cover IMF Working Papers
Assessing the Impact of Structural Adjustmenton the Poor: The Case of Malawi
Mr. Odd Per Brekk
and
Mr. Ronald P Hicks
This paper applies, through a case study on Malawi, a simple methodology indicating the first-round (i.e., price) effects of macroeconomic policies on real earnings of the poor. As the economic program in Malawi has not involved substantial exchange rate action or cuts in subsidies, the real incomes of the poor have been most clearly affected by the pricing policies of the agricultural parastatal and the overall anti-inflationary measures incorporated in the program; developments in minimum wages have also been important. The study suggests that, on balance, these various factors have led to an increase in real incomes of the poor over the program period.
Keywords:
WP; earnings; price; Malawi; low income; nominal wage; expenditure pattern; ESAF program; structural adjustment; price effect; price deceleration; fertilizer price; import liberalization program; ADMARC price; Income; Real wages; Wages; Inflation; Southern Africa