Country Reports
2025
March 27, 2025
Principality of Liechtenstein: 2025 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Principality of Liechtenstein
Description: Liechtenstein’s fiscal framework has ensured surpluses, virtually no public debt, and accumulation of large fiscal buffers. Specialized, export-oriented industries and financial services based on private banking and wealth management underpin economic activity and high living standards, supported by a currency treaty and customs unions with Switzerland, membership in the European Economic Area, and sizable cross-border commuting. The authorities have pledged to address data gaps.
March 24, 2025
Slovak Republic: Financial System Stability Assessment
Description: The Slovak Republic FSAP took place amidst an economic recovery and tighter financial conditions, despite the start of an accommodative cycle and signs of overvaluation in real estate markets. The financial system remains predominantly bank-centered, highly concentrated, with significant foreign ownership and no material direct interconnections within the system. Banks rely on a domestically oriented traditional business model and maintain high capital buffers and ample liquidity.
March 24, 2025
Cameroon: Seventh Reviews Under the Extended Arrangement Under the Extended Fund Facility and the Arrangement Under the Extended Credit Facility, Request for a Waiver of Applicability of Performance Criteria, and Second Review Under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility Arrangement-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Cameroon
Description: Economic recovery has continued, but growth remains subdued. Structural and governance weaknesses, ongoing internal conflicts and security concerns, social tensions around presidential elections in October 2025, and climate hazards continue to hinder the growth outlook, which is also unfavorably affected by external headwinds marked by geoeconomic fragmentation.
March 24, 2025
Slovak Republic: 2025 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; and Staff Report
Description: Membership of the European Union (EU), adoption of the euro, and integration in global value chains, have contributed to a convergence towards living standards of more advanced EU countries. However, progress has slowed in recent years, and like many other EU countries, Slovakia is facing structural headwinds related to geoeconomic fragmentation and demographic change. Meanwhile, above-EU growth in recent years has come with a significant widening of the fiscal deficit.
March 24, 2025
Republic of Congo: Sixth Review Under the Three-Year Arrangement Under the Extended Credit Facility, Request for Waivers of Nonobservance of Performance Criteria, and Financing Assurances Review
Description: The fifth review of a three-year Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement (SDR 324 million, 200 percent of quota) was concluded on July 10, 2024. Resilient activity in the non-hydrocarbon sector supported economic growth in 2024, while oil production continued to surprise on the downside. Inflationary pressures abated in 2024 on the back of moderating import costs, but the current account weakened driven by softening terms of trade, especially in the hydrocarbon sector. Meanwhile, low execution of capital and social spending and stronger-than-expected tax and hydrocarbon revenues improved the non-hydrocarbon primary deficit in the first half of 2024 by 2.4 percent of non-hydrocarbon GDP compared to the fifth ECF review (CR 24/251), with the annual projection set at 9 percent of non-hydrocarbon GDP. However, liquidity pressures heightened in 2024, and this, combined with expected large repayments of domestic debt falling due in 2025–26, prompted the authorities to initiate in October 2024 a domestic debt reprofiling operation, partially postponing the amortization of government treasuries beyond 2029. Public debt continued to be assessed as sustainable but “in distress” due to recurrent instances of new external arrears, which are expected to be cleared before the board date, and uncertainty about the timeline to resolve domestic arrears.
March 21, 2025
Republic of Madagascar: Staff Report for the 2024 Article IV Consultation; First Review Under the Extended Credit Facility Arrangement; Request for A Waiver of Nonobservance of Performance Criteria; and Financing Assurances Review; and First Review Under the Arrangement Under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Republic of Madagascar
Description: Real GDP growth stabilized at 4.2 percent in 2024. Led by food and energy prices, year-on-year inflation persisted, rising from 7.3 percent in March 2024 to 8.6 percent in December 2024 as deteriorating road and electricity infrastructure continued to weigh on transportation and production costs. Fiscal performance over the first part of the year was mixed, mostly due to the disbursement of an exceptional loan to JIRAMA, only partially compensated by the slow execution of domestically financed public investment.