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Social Science > Poverty and Homelessness

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Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Benin: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. African Dept.
This Selected Issues paper presents stylized facts on Benin’s ongoing economic transformation, and analyzes the country’s new eco-system. A recent IMF paper explores conditions under which the country’s industrial policy could meet its intended goals while avoiding unintended economic distortions down the road. While economic diversification is found to be associated with higher economic growth, evidence on the causal impact of industrial policies is hard to establish. While empirical evidence suggests that Benin’s reliance on traditional sectors, notably the Port of Cotonou, is moderating, economic diversification remains limited. The government embarked on industrial policy with the transformation of local commodities as main engine, including via the launching of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in 2020. It is recommending that the authorities should pursue efforts to ensure transparency in the selection of SEZ-related incentives. Intra-regional trade integration holds significant potential for Benin and could support economic diversification. Ongoing post-electoral policy shifts in Nigeria and formalization underway of economic ties between both nations, if permanent, would curb rent-seeking in Benin.
Keywords:
demographics dividend; B. addressing Internet accessibility; infrastructure investment; Beninese government; completion rate; Digitalization; Exports; Global; Sub-Saharan Africa; West Africa
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Ghana: Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy
International Monetary Fund. African Dept.
This paper presents Ghana’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy. The vision of the Agenda For Jobs II (2022–2025) is to create an optimistic, self-confident and prosperous nation, through the creative exploitation of our human and natural resources, and operating within a democratic, open and fair society in which mutual trust and economic opportunities exist for all. The Services sector continues to contribute the highest share of gross domestic product (GDP) despite its decline and varied performance of 47.9 percent in 2020, 48.2 percent in 2019 and 47.0 percent in 2018. Industry’s share of GDP decreased from 33.5 percent in 2018 to 33.2 percent in 2019 and 31.6 percent in 2020. Agriculture’s contribution to GDP increased to 20.5 percent in 2020 from 19.5 percent in 2018 and 18.5 percent in 2019. Key challenges requiring attention include the proliferation of slums due to increased rural–urban migration; poor sanitation and noise pollution; weak enforcement of environmental and mining laws and regulations leading to increased illegal mining, forest degradation and water pollution.
Keywords:
Ghana learning radio programme; infrastructure gap; value chain; Ghana export promotion authority; Ghana football association; Infrastructure; West Africa; Global; Africa
Cover Technical Assistance Reports
Costa Rica: Technical Assistance Report-Universal Basic Pension: Objectives and Constraints
International Monetary Fund. Fiscal Affairs Dept.
At the request of the Ministry of Finance, a mission from the International Monetary Fund visited San Jose. The purpose of the mission was to assess the proposal to a universal basic pension and to estimate its fiscal and welfare impact on the budget, on pension schemes, and on old age income poverty. Costa Rica is entering a demographic transition which will see the old age dependency ratios significantly worsen in the coming 20 years. The long-term financial sustainability of the general social security pension scheme (IVM) is a concern, despite various reforms introduced over the past three decades and the scheme’s reserves are expected to be exhausted by the mid-2030s. The government’s proposal intends to address financial sustainability, the adequacy of coverage and of benefit levels, as well as distributional equity through the introduction of a universal basic pension. The IMF team’s assessment is that the proposal is unlikely to fully meet its stated objectives. The proposal will worsen social security pension scheme’s financial sustainability and create additional financing needs. This will translate into an accelerated exhaustion of IVM reserves and, after the reserves are depleted, require significant adjustments to IVM parameters or higher government transfers. Old age income security may be more effectively addressed, with less pronounced fiscal side-effects, through improving coverage and compliance in IVM and expanding the reach of the social pension scheme. The primary instruments of achieving these goals are: (a) amending the rules undermining compliance with registration and wage reporting regulations in the contributory schemes, (b) improving coordination between tax and contribution collection agencies, (c) amending the regulations governing eligibility for noncontributory social pensions and (d) ensuring the noncontributory social pension is adequately financed.
Keywords:
resident representative; IMF executive director; IMF Proposal; Asociación Costarricense; PBU replacement; Pensions; Pension spending; Aging; Income; Central America
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Republic of Congo: Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy
International Monetary Fund. African Dept.
This paper on Republic of Congo focuses on poverty reduction and growth strategy. The diagnostic analysis of the socio-economic situation shows that the Congo still faces many challenges. It is recommended to strengthen the quality, capacities, and efficiency of the system, and manage human resources rationally and efficiently in all their components. Focus the national development plan’s (NDP) actions on the economy to make it stronger, and thus give the State more consistent means of action to meet the main national challenges. The implementation of the six strategic pillars of the NDP mentioned above should enable the State to have the necessary resources for the development of education, health, social protection, and basic social services infrastructure. The impact of this involvement is based on a correlation between the expected effects on the social dividend and the actual achievement of the targets for each Sustainable Development Goal.
Keywords:
poverty rate; NDP financing plan; NDP scenario; NDP project; NDP objective; Infrastructure; Global; Central Africa; Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa
Cover Selected Issues Papers
The Efficiency of Social Spending in Niger: Niger
Jean-Marc B. Atsebi
and
Mrs. Paola Ganum
Despite some progress, poverty remains elevated and education and health outcomes are lagging. This paper finds evidence of inefficiencies in education, health, and social protection spending in Niger. Programs are typically not well-targeted, some are regressive, and there are significant coverage gaps. Improving the living standards of the Nigerien as well as education and health systems, a priority of the government, would require not only scaling up social spending but also strenghtening social protection programs through better targeting, supporting girls’ education, and moving away from general subsidies. Moreover, social assistance should focus more on enhancing productivity and resilience to shocks.
Keywords:
Social Spending; Efficiency; Education; Health; Social Protection; Niger; health outcome; health system; copyright page; SPL program; Education spending; Sub-Saharan Africa
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Romania: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
Selected Issues
Keywords:
assessment of the size; Consumer Goods import; Policy recommendation; regional disparity; policy recommendation; Current account; Current account deficits; Current account balance; External balance assessment (EBA); Western Europe; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Generational Aspects of Inclusive Growth
Mr. Benedicte Baduel
,
Asel Isakova
, and
Anna Ter-Martirosyan
Sharing economic benefits equitably across all segments of society includes addressing the specific challenges of different generations. At present, youth and elderly are particularly vulnerable to poverty relative to adults in their middle years. Broad-based policies should aim to foster youth integration into the labor market and ensure adequate income and health care support for the elderly. Turning to the intergenerational dimension, everyone should have the same chances in life, regardless of their family background. Policies that promote social mobility include improving access to high-quality care and education starting from a very early age, supporting lifelong learning, effective social protection schemes, and investing in infrastructure and other services to reduce spatial segregation.
Keywords:
inequality; inclusive growth; youth employment; elderly poverty; intergenerational mobility; WP; social mobility; youth labor market outcome; growth indexation; life satisfaction; wage inequality; income composition; labor market prospects; education mobility; elderly people; absolute poverty; Labor markets; Aging; Income; Global; Africa; Middle East
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Malta: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This Selected Issues paper assesses the marginal impact of promoting inclusive growth in Malta. The paper uses a multi-country simulation model, the IMF’s Flexible System of Global Models calibrated for Malta, is used to analyze the macroeconomic impacts of ongoing and potential future reforms. Three different policies are analyzed, namely: increasing childcare and after care benefits; extending working lives; and upskilling the labor force. The model shows that the reduction of absolute poverty has been accompanied by rising inequality. The simulation evaluates the macroeconomic impact of introducing free childcare, which is the actual government policy since 2015. Simulations show that policies that are primarily aimed at improving social inclusion also end up boosting potential output, thereby mitigating the fiscal cost of such policies in the long term. Recent declines in poverty rate can partly be ascribed to the cycle, however, recent structural reforms likely have had a significant impact on growth.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; poverty risk; policy; refugee; pay; government policy; policy reform; childcare services policy; policy experiment; policy initiative; refugee integration scenario; Labor supply; Income; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Burkina Faso: Economic Development Documents
International Monetary Fund. African Dept.
This paper discusses various economic development documents of Burkina Faso. Economic Development Documents are prepared by member countries in broad consultation with stakeholders and development partners. They describe countries’ macroeconomic, structural, and social policies in support of growth and poverty reduction, as well as associated external financing needs and major sources of financing. The aim of the 2016–2020 National Plan for Economic and Social Development (PNDES) is to structurally transform the Burkinabè economy to generate strong, sustainable, resilient, and inclusive growth in order to create decent jobs for all and improve social well-being. As a national benchmark, the plan aims to achieve cumulative growth of per capita income to reduce poverty and meet the population’s basic needs within a fair and sustainable social framework. During the entire PNDES implementation phase, measures will be taken to improve the quality of institutions and strengthen the governance and the availability of qualified human resources to meet the economy’s structural transformation needs.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; PNDES; economic growth; PNDES implementation guidelines principle; population age structure; rate; PNDES strategy; PNDES implementation mechanism; PNDES document; poverty rate; human resources; PNDES result; PNDES hinge; Human capital; West Africa
Cover Staff Discussion Notes
Inequality and Poverty across Generations in the European Union
Tingyun Chen
,
Mr. Jean-Jacques Hallaert
,
Mr. Alexander Pitt
,
Mr. Haonan Qu
,
Mr. Maximilien Queyranne
,
Ms. Alaina P Rhee
,
Ms. Anna Shabunina
,
Mr. Jerome Vandenbussche
, and
Irene Yackovlev
This SDN studies the evolution of inequality across age groups leading up to and since the global financial crisis, as well as implications for fiscal and labor policies. Europe’s population is aging, child and youth poverty are rising, and income support systems are often better equipped to address old-age poverty than the challenges faced by poor children and/or unemployed youth today.
Keywords:
SDN; youth poverty; youth unemployment; IMF staff calculation; absolute poverty; labor market policy; Inequality; Poverty; Europe; Redistribution; income inequality; personal income; labor market institution; Income inequality; Personal income; Aging; Unemployment; Global