Despite significant progress in recent decades, labor markets across the world remain divided along gender lines. Female labor force participation has remained lower than male participation, gender wage gaps are high, and women are overrepresented in the informal sector and among the poor. In many countries, legal restrictions persist which constrain women from developing their full economic potential. While equality between men and women is in itself an important development goal, women's economic participation is also a part of the growth and stability equation. In rapidly aging economies, higher female labor force participation can boost growth by mitigating the impact of a shrinking workforce. Better opportunities for women can also contribute to broader economic development in developing economies, for instance through higher levels of school enrollment for girls.
After restoring stability, Argentina needs to turn hard-won gains into lasting prosperity
Sustained rebalancing requires policy action in both surplus and deficit countries
Stronger oversight, better data, and deeper coordination are needed to safeguard faster and more interconnected markets
With the rise of more expansive investment models, it is time to renew focus on sound legal frameworks
Less demand, more production, and inventory drawdowns prevented a larger price spike. A quick supply recovery is essential to avoid further damage to the global economy
Integrating and deepening banking and venture capital markets would boost output by at least 3 percent, and make business dynamism reforms more powerful
Sound fundamentals—low and stable inflation, solid fiscal and external buffers, and current account surpluses—put Guatemala in a strong position to face ongoing high uncertainty. However, growth potential remains constrained by poor public infrastructure, which dampens private investment. Large remittances, though supporting consumption, complicate monetary policy and put pressure on competitiveness.
Niger continues to face significant security challenges, and natural disasters compound vulnerabilities. The prolonged border closure with Benin continues to weigh on trade despite the reopening of a key Benin-Nigeria-Niger corridor. Diplomatic tensions with Benin have eased, including with a recent visit of the new Beninese president to Niamey and a joint committee’s recommendations towards a border reopening.
Ghana's ECF program has delivered substantial stabilization and debt-sustainability gains following the 2022 debt crisis. It has helped restore macroeconomic stability, sharply reduce inflation, rebuild international reserves, and ease acute financing pressures. These improvements were supported by fiscal consolidation, progress on debt restructuring, and renewed confidence in the cedi following favorable commodity-price developments, particularly gold. Nonetheless, vulnerabilities persist. Fiscal adjustment remains heavily reliant on spending compression despite large development and security needs; financial‑sector risks remain elevated with high non-performing loans, particularly among state‑owned and some private banks; and sizable fiscal risks from SOEs.
This HLS summarizes IMF technical assistance provided to Angola on strengthening the management of VAT credits and refunds. The mission assessed the significant accumulation of excess VAT credits—equivalent to 0.5 percent of GDP—and identified structural, legal, operational, and compliance-related factors behind this build-up. The mission recommends strengthening the integrity of VAT credits and refund processes through improved invoice controls, risk-based verification, enhanced Standard Audit File for Tax Purposes (SAF-T) and VAT filing compliance, alternative collection mechanisms for high-risk sectors, and development of modern risk analytics. It further recommends the establishment of an Extraordinary VAT Excess Credit Regularization Program to validate and clear long-outstanding credit balances, evaluation of cross-tax offsetting options, and implementation of measures to reinforce governance, transparency, and internal control across the VAT refund system.
Botswana’s VAT performance has been steady as a share of GDP, averaging about 3-4 percent of GDP annually. An IMF CD mission in 2025-26 applied the RA-GAP top-down VAT gap model to Botswana’s data for 2017-2024 to estimate both the VAT compliance gap and policy gap. Botswana’s overall VAT gap is significant and rising, reaching 5.8 percent of GDP in 2024 (up from 4.9 percent in 2017). The increase was driven by marked deterioration in the compliance gap after 2018, while the policy gap remained relatively stable. Much of the non-compliance is concentrated in a few sectors. These results imply considerable revenue at risk and underscore the need for strengthened revenue administration efforts. High-level recommendations include building analytic capacity, improving data quality, institutionalizing regular VAT gap estimation, and integrating gap results into compliance risk management.
This technical assistance (TA) mission was conducted to support the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) in developing a first-time Residential Property Price Index (RPPI) for Kenya. The mission focused on improving data collection, refining statistical compilation methods, and building capacity aligned with international best practices. The findings highlighted significant progress in stabilizing web scraping data collection and developing the procedures for index compilation, though challenges remain in data quality and model robustness, especially outside Nairobi. The report recommends launching the RPPI by March 2026 along with a press release and comprehensive dissemination materials. Thereafter, KNBS intend to publish the data on a quarterly basis. Publishing the RPPI will be a major achievement for KNBS, but ongoing development of data collection and statistical methods should continue in the coming years.
This capacity development (CD) project financed by the Data for Decisions (D4D) Fund, was developed in response to a request from the Macro-Economic Statistics Division of Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) to provide technical assistance (TA) on rebasing the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for Uganda (results are soon to be published).
This document summarizes the completion and main outcomes of a Technical Assistance project aimed at strengthening the capacity of Mauritania’s National Committee on Public Debt (CNDP) in public debt projection and analysis. At the request of the Mauritanian authorities, the IMF’s Institute for Capacity Development (ICD) implemented a multi-mission program between January 2024 and January 2025, combining in-country missions with sustained remote engagement. The project focused on implementing and customizing the IMF’s Public Debt Dynamics Tool (DDT), including a resource-rich country version and a natural disaster module. Through hands-on training, the CNDP strengthened its ability to produce debt projections, conduct scenario analysis, and prepare a comprehensive public debt report.
After restoring stability, Argentina needs to turn hard-won gains into lasting prosperity
Sustained rebalancing requires policy action in both surplus and deficit countries
Stronger oversight, better data, and deeper coordination are needed to safeguard faster and more interconnected markets
With the rise of more expansive investment models, it is time to renew focus on sound legal frameworks
Less demand, more production, and inventory drawdowns prevented a larger price spike. A quick supply recovery is essential to avoid further damage to the global economy
Integrating and deepening banking and venture capital markets would boost output by at least 3 percent, and make business dynamism reforms more powerful
Sound fundamentals—low and stable inflation, solid fiscal and external buffers, and current account surpluses—put Guatemala in a strong position to face ongoing high uncertainty. However, growth potential remains constrained by poor public infrastructure, which dampens private investment. Large remittances, though supporting consumption, complicate monetary policy and put pressure on competitiveness.
Niger continues to face significant security challenges, and natural disasters compound vulnerabilities. The prolonged border closure with Benin continues to weigh on trade despite the reopening of a key Benin-Nigeria-Niger corridor. Diplomatic tensions with Benin have eased, including with a recent visit of the new Beninese president to Niamey and a joint committee’s recommendations towards a border reopening.
Ghana's ECF program has delivered substantial stabilization and debt-sustainability gains following the 2022 debt crisis. It has helped restore macroeconomic stability, sharply reduce inflation, rebuild international reserves, and ease acute financing pressures. These improvements were supported by fiscal consolidation, progress on debt restructuring, and renewed confidence in the cedi following favorable commodity-price developments, particularly gold. Nonetheless, vulnerabilities persist. Fiscal adjustment remains heavily reliant on spending compression despite large development and security needs; financial‑sector risks remain elevated with high non-performing loans, particularly among state‑owned and some private banks; and sizable fiscal risks from SOEs.
This HLS summarizes IMF technical assistance provided to Angola on strengthening the management of VAT credits and refunds. The mission assessed the significant accumulation of excess VAT credits—equivalent to 0.5 percent of GDP—and identified structural, legal, operational, and compliance-related factors behind this build-up. The mission recommends strengthening the integrity of VAT credits and refund processes through improved invoice controls, risk-based verification, enhanced Standard Audit File for Tax Purposes (SAF-T) and VAT filing compliance, alternative collection mechanisms for high-risk sectors, and development of modern risk analytics. It further recommends the establishment of an Extraordinary VAT Excess Credit Regularization Program to validate and clear long-outstanding credit balances, evaluation of cross-tax offsetting options, and implementation of measures to reinforce governance, transparency, and internal control across the VAT refund system.
Botswana’s VAT performance has been steady as a share of GDP, averaging about 3-4 percent of GDP annually. An IMF CD mission in 2025-26 applied the RA-GAP top-down VAT gap model to Botswana’s data for 2017-2024 to estimate both the VAT compliance gap and policy gap. Botswana’s overall VAT gap is significant and rising, reaching 5.8 percent of GDP in 2024 (up from 4.9 percent in 2017). The increase was driven by marked deterioration in the compliance gap after 2018, while the policy gap remained relatively stable. Much of the non-compliance is concentrated in a few sectors. These results imply considerable revenue at risk and underscore the need for strengthened revenue administration efforts. High-level recommendations include building analytic capacity, improving data quality, institutionalizing regular VAT gap estimation, and integrating gap results into compliance risk management.
This technical assistance (TA) mission was conducted to support the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) in developing a first-time Residential Property Price Index (RPPI) for Kenya. The mission focused on improving data collection, refining statistical compilation methods, and building capacity aligned with international best practices. The findings highlighted significant progress in stabilizing web scraping data collection and developing the procedures for index compilation, though challenges remain in data quality and model robustness, especially outside Nairobi. The report recommends launching the RPPI by March 2026 along with a press release and comprehensive dissemination materials. Thereafter, KNBS intend to publish the data on a quarterly basis. Publishing the RPPI will be a major achievement for KNBS, but ongoing development of data collection and statistical methods should continue in the coming years.
This capacity development (CD) project financed by the Data for Decisions (D4D) Fund, was developed in response to a request from the Macro-Economic Statistics Division of Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) to provide technical assistance (TA) on rebasing the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for Uganda (results are soon to be published).
This document summarizes the completion and main outcomes of a Technical Assistance project aimed at strengthening the capacity of Mauritania’s National Committee on Public Debt (CNDP) in public debt projection and analysis. At the request of the Mauritanian authorities, the IMF’s Institute for Capacity Development (ICD) implemented a multi-mission program between January 2024 and January 2025, combining in-country missions with sustained remote engagement. The project focused on implementing and customizing the IMF’s Public Debt Dynamics Tool (DDT), including a resource-rich country version and a natural disaster module. Through hands-on training, the CNDP strengthened its ability to produce debt projections, conduct scenario analysis, and prepare a comprehensive public debt report.
