Republic of Madagascar: Selected Issues

IMF Staff Country Reports, March 21, 2023

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Republic of Madagascar: Selected Issues

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Bibliographic details

• Published: March 21, 2023
• Series: IMF Staff Country Reports
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400236495.002

Summary

• This Selected Issues paper takes stock of developments in education, health, and social assistance and offers policy options in the Republic of Madagascar.
• The quality of education in Madagascar is falling with low school completion rates, a high share of untrained teachers, and declining test scores.
• Finding fiscal space to allocate more public resources to the education, health, and social protection sectors should be a key government priority.
• The resources currently budgeted for these sectors remain much lower than in other Sub-Saharan African countries and insufficient to improve development outcomes.
• Madagascar made some progress in improving access to primary education and basic health services, but the quality of the education system has deteriorated, significant human resource gaps remain in the health sector, and the poverty rate has increased.

Key findings

• Education
  • Low school completion rates.
  • High share of untrained teachers.
  • Declining test scores.
  • Quality of the education system has deteriorated despite improved access to primary education.
• Health
  • Improved access to basic health services in some areas.
  • Significant human resource gaps remain in the health sector.
• Social protection and poverty
  • Poverty rate has increased.
  • Current social assistance coverage of the vulnerable population is limited.
  • Resources budgeted for education, health, and social protection are much lower than in other Sub-Saharan African countries.

Policy recommendations

• Fiscal policy
  • Identify fiscal space to allocate more public resources to the education, health, and social protection sectors as a government priority.
• Social protection system
  • Identify clear and predictable funding sources with a view to gradually scale up existing social programs.
  • Develop a national social registry to harmonize the social response among different interventions and actors and set a strong basis to gradually increase social assistance coverage of the vulnerable population.

Publication and metadata

• Pages: 50
• Volume: 2023
• Issue: 118
• Series: Country Report No. 2023/118
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400236495.002
• Stock No: 1MDGEA2023003
• ISBN: 9798400236495
• ISSN: 1934-7685
• Subject: Climate change, Education, Environment, Food security, International organization, Monetary policy, Natural disasters, Poverty
• Keywords: Climate change, education outcome, food inflation, Food security, food value chain vulnerability, Global, Natural disasters, policy recommendation, social spending, Sub-Saharan Africa

Republic of Madagascar: Selected Issues (IMF Staff Country Reports, March 21, 2023).

Content in this bundle

• Republic of Madagascar: Selected Issues; IMF Country Report No. 23/118; February 15, 2023
  • Republic of Madagascar: Selected Issues; IMF Country Report No. 23/118; February 15, 2023 (Markdown version)
  • Republic of Madagascar: Selected Issues; IMF Country Report No. 23/118; February 15, 2023 (PDF)