Although the State of Ceara, in Brazil,
is a model of good economic, and fiscal performance given
its poverty status, recent analysis show poverty remains
severe, in spite of significant reductions over the last
decade. The combination of good governance, and sound fiscal
management, industrial promotion, and public investments
have been successful, but the report questions whether
different policies, could have led to higher growth, and

Bhutan has shown remarkable economic
performance over the last two decades. Growth during the
second half of the 1990s was particularly strong, with
annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth averaging 6.5
percent. A large part of this performance has been supported
by generous inflows of foreign aid and buoyant electricity
exports to India, which have spurred growth both directly by
expanding export earnings and indirectly by stimulating

The International Monetary Fund (IMF)
and the World Bank introduced the Poverty Reduction Strategy
Paper (PRSP) process in 1999 to strengthen the poverty
alleviation focus of their assistance to low-income
countries. This report reviews Nicaragua s experience with
the PRSP process, focusing on the effectiveness of IMF and
World Bank support to the process and the extent to which
the two institutions lending and non-lending activities in

The study reviews the living standards
in Turkmenistan, shaped by the Soviet legacy - whose income
levels in 1989 were below the socially acceptable minimum -;
by the economic decline throughout the 1990s, until recent
economic resumption; and, by current approaches, and
government policies. In an attempt to ensure good living
standards, the country maintained one of the highest levels
of subsidization of basic goods: water, gas, fuel, and

The topics for this review were
determined by the Government in consultation with a core
group of donors at a workshop in Brussels organized by the
European Commission in November 2000. The Government
suggested reviewing public expenditures at the regional
level, starting with three regions. This public expenditure
review (PER) marks the first explicit attempt at Regional
PERs. This integrated report draws on draft reports from the

The Global Poverty Report considers
the effects of globalizing markets on poverty in developing
countries. It outlines the channels through which increased
trade openness can affect poverty and examines the evidence
from four regions: Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Pacific,
Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and Latin America and the
Caribbean. Written at the request of the G8, the report is
the result of a joint effort of the regional development

This paper analyzes poverty in rural and semi-urban areas of Mexico (localities with less than 2,500 and 15,000 inhabitants, respectively) and provides guidance on a social agenda and poverty alleviation strategy for rural Mexico. The analyses are based on INIGH and ENE data sets for 1992-2002. Monetary extreme poverty affected 42 percent of the rural dwellers in dispersed rural areas and 21 percent in semi-urban areas in 2002, slightly less than one decade earlier.

This review aims to provide the
Government of Madagascar with a situation assessment and
insights and guidance on how to position the rural and
environment sector as an engine for inclusive and
sustainable economic growth. The review has cast the
analytical net quite widely with the aim to come up with a
comprehensive overview of the sector. In view of the
intimate linkages between rural development and the

The present study describes, and
quantifies the provision of basic urban services to the
poor, in three Central American cities in El Salvador,
Honduras, and, Panama. It also identifies priority areas for
government intervention, using specialized household surveys
to quantify current deficits, and to rank households from
poor to rich, using aggregate consumption as the measure of
welfare. The urban poverty profile is examined in each city,

Countries receiving debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative will be among the first to benefit from the new World Bank -- International Monetary Fund approach to strengthening the impact on poverty of concessional assistance in low-income countries. The new approach features a more inclusive and participatory process for helping recipient countries develop poverty reduction strategies. From these strategies, joint Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) will bring together the country's own priorities and Bank-Fund assistance to the country.

Forest resources directly contribute to
the livelihoods of 90 percent of the 1.2 billion people
living in extreme poverty and indirectly support the natural
environment that nourishes agriculture and the food supplies
of nearly half the population of the developing world.
Forests also are central to growth in many developing
countries through trade and industrial development. However,
mismanagement of this resource has cost governments revenues

Albania provides a small amount of
social assistance to nearly 20 percent of its population
through a system that allows some community discretion in
determining distribution. This study investigates how well
this social assistance program is targeted to the poor.
Relative to other safety net programs in low-income
countries, social assistance in Albania is fairly well
targeted. Nevertheless, the system is hampered by the