2. Article

Expenditure restraint in the first nine months of 2001 helped contain the general government deficit to 1.4 percent of GDP, and all related performance criteria under the program were observed with a comfortable margin. The government has largely complied with the public sector reform measures under the program: First, it submitted to Parliament amendments to the excise tax law and the pension law. Second, most accounts of budget-financed institutions were brought inside the Treasury. And third, the 2002 budget law explanations included (i) annexes covering auxiliary information on contingent liabilities, tax expenditures and quasi fiscal-activities, (ii) a comprehensive presentation of forecasting assumptions, and (iii) detailed information on financing. However, the implementing regulations for the new law on public agencies have not yet been adopted, but we will strive to do so by mid-December 2001.