TIDE is not intended to and cannot replace comprehensive country studies published by the Bank. Nor should TIDE be regarded as the definitive source of evaluations of an economy. Some World Bank borrowers disseminate their own economic reports, which may provide more current information or more authoritative evaluation. TIDE aims for the middle ground of reasonably uniform and current discussions of trends in many individuals economies.
The text is descriptive. It is mainly concerned with current events and the recent past in each country, but also places events in context by bringing out the distinguishing characteristics of a country's economy, its problems and prospects, and the principal elements of its development strategy. While the choice of topics may vary from one country text to another, recurrent themes are government initiatives in progress or under consideration, economic and social factors affecting development, and the external debt situation.
Each country text is followed by tables of economic indicators. An effort has been made to ensure consistency between the text and the table but this has not always been achieved. Differences may reflect the use of data of different vintages or variations in definitions and concepts. The tables contain the latest available information, although it is not always comparable across countries and time periods. Readers are urged to exercise caution in interpreting the numbers. The Socio-Economic Data Division of the World Bank's International Economics Department welcomes comments and corrections to the data.
Efforts have been made to avoid or at least explain country-specific terminology. Abbreviations and acronyms with wider application are noted.
The dataset is available in both print and on magnetic tape or diskettes. Access is available via the World Bank's Public Information Center.
Experimental access to Trends in Developing Economies is available through World Wide Web search interface.
Assessments of economic development, especially in the recent past, are subject to interpretation. Legitimate concerns can be expressed about the accuracy of such assessments, whether from TIDE or other sources. The World Bank views publication of TIDE as a significant contribution to a better and more universal understanding of development issues. Nevertheless, readers should pay more than usual attention to admonitions about the provisional character of data and commentary reported here. In many instances, the data for the most recent years are World Bank staff estimates that are preliminary and subject to revision; they may not conform to data published by national authorities.
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