Resources

The first section of this paper takes an historical overview of the issue of taxation over the last two decades and more.  The second section addresses the case for taxation, taking into consideration points raised in the historical overview and those listed above,...Read More

Just before the global crisis soaring commodity prices pushed up inflation significantly, not least in EU neighbour countries at the Mediterranean. These price shocks affected public finances in the southern Mediterranean region, notably via government subsidies....Read More

This book emphasizes monetary policy strategies.  Part I contains an overview of the financial markets and institutions which condition the choice of monetary policy strategy in the countries of the region, followed by single-country studies on aspects of the monetary...Read More

The approach to fiscal space taken in this paper is focused on asking the question: what are the barriers to the creation and utilization of such fiscal space that will be necessary to undertake the above transformation? In posing this question, we seek to clearly...Read More

The GCC countries maintain a policy of open capital accounts and a pegged (or nearly- pegged) exchange rate, thereby reducing their freedom to run an independent monetary policy. This paper shows, however, that the pass-through of policy rates to retail rates is on the...Read More

Public investment and subsidies are typically inefficient but in the GCC these are crucial engines of growth. Subsidies are also used to redistribute oil windfalls in the region, and the problem of a government that wants to „distribute‟ oil money is a problem fully...Read More

In 2009, the Boards of the IMF and World Bank jointly endorsed a capacity building program to help developing countries strengthen their public debt management frameworks. A key aspect of the program was to help developing countries implement the framework developed by...Read More

This paper documents the main themes covered in two seminars (December 2011 and September 2012) on monetary policy and implementation at the IMF—Middle East Center for Economics and Finance, and includes country case studies. Read More

The study is aimed at an examination of the relationship between tax effort and oil revenues. So, data from five oil exporting countries including Iran, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Algeria are used in the study. Accordingly, a regression model of suitable tax ratio is...Read More

This paper explores the concept of fiscal space, and provides an application of the concept to the ESCWA member countries - with the underlying assumption that the created budget surplus shall be used for social policy, and more concretely for the Social Protection...Read More