This paper provides an update on staff's work on a new Fiscal Transparency Code (FTC) and experiences with the initial pilot Fiscal Transparency Evaluations (FTE), the ground work for which was laid in a 2012 paper 'Fiscal Transparency, Accountability, and Risk.' Both are part of ongoing efforts...

This note is intended to inform Public Financial Management (PFM) reform in small Pacific Island Countries (PICs). PFM systems in PIC contexts are often very different from the sophisticated and comprehensive systems operating in larger, wealthier countries. The authors give two key messages....

Of the new members entering the European Union (EU) in May 2004, several had achieved a decade of impressive export growth, expanding significantly their shares of world markets. The empirical analysis shows that over the period 1994–2004, quality and technology upgrading associated with the...

The Selected Issues paper of Lebanon provides an update of the vulnerability assessment based on the balance sheet approach. It explores the interest rate determination, the strength of the link to international interest rates, and exposure to international interest rate shocks, summarizes the...

This note reviews some concepts of global liquidity and discusses measurement approaches that have been used by various interlocutors, including at the BIS, by Fund staff, and in academia. Some measures that could be regularly monitored by policy makers are presented

Over the past decade policy makers in Latin America have adopted a number of macroprudential instruments to manage the procyclicality of bank credit dynamics to the private sector and contain systemic risk. Reserve requirements, in particular, have been actively employed. Despite their...

Lebanon’s credit growth in 2008–10 has been concentrated in trade and services, household loans, and the construction sector. These sectors accounted for almost 80 percent of all new loans extended since 2008. Real estate lending in particular has been increased substantially. On the demand...

Two main issues at the interface between economic growth and financial stability are germane to this year's article four consultation and the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) update: the first is why the recent pace of financial catching-up has been so much slower in Poland than in its...

We study the impact of a minimum wage on business cycle volatility, depending upon its coverage and adjustment mechanism. As with other small open economies, Hong Kong SAR is vulnerable to external shocks, with its exchange rate regime precluding active monetary policy. Adjustment to past shocks...