In a constrained fiscal environment with public debt nearing historical highs, Mauritius’ 2025 PRB decision represents more than a pay adjustment: it is a defining statement about the State’s priorities and capacity. The Price of the State unpacks the macro-fiscal trade-offs, the missing productivity contract, and how strategic implementation can turn a wage revision into a governance upgrade
South Sudan’s peace agreements created political containers but not a working state. The binding constraint has been administrative: payroll, cash control, revenue transparency, and basic service delivery. Mediation stopped escalation; it did not install governability.
South Sudan’s oil revenues arrived before treasury discipline. The result was not simply volatility, but a shadow fiscal state: earmarks, off-budget schemes, arrears, and oil-backed advances that weakened the budget as an instrument of order. A different sequencing—cash control first, monetisation later—remains possible.
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