This paper analyzes the origins, implications, and solutions for the Asian financial crisis. From the perspective of a member of the Executive Board of the IMF, as Asian problems were building, the IMF overlooked weaknesses in bank and corporate balance sheets in much of Asia: the IMF was...

The focus of the paper is on five key financial stability issues in Emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs), which have been selected on the basis of their degree of materiality for a reasonably broad range of EMDEs; their implications for regulatory, supervisory or other financial...

The IMF Executive Board has been considering reforms to strengthen the Fund's mandate to better equip the institution to safeguard global stability. Executive Directors have supported a range of reforms to modernize the Fund's surveillance mandate and modalities. This paper focuses on selected...

This study examines the relative importance of political and economic variables in the determination of a country’s standing in credit ratings provided by commercial rating agencies. It finds that creditworthiness appears to be determined primarily by economic variables. While including...

In discussing the June 2014 paper, Executive Directors broadly supported staff's proposal to introduce more flexibility into the Fund's exceptional access framework to reduce unnecessary costs for the member, its creditors, and the overall system. Directors' views varied on staff's proposal to...

IMF economists work closely with member countries on a variety of issues. Their unique perspective on country experiences and best practices on global macroeconomic issues are often shared in the form of books on diverse topics such as cross-country comparisons, capacity building, macroeconomic...

Capital flows can deliver substantial benefits for countries, but also have the potential to contribute to a buildup of systemic financial risk. Benefits, such as enhanced investment and consumption smoothing, tend to be greater for countries whose financial and institutional development enables...