Since 1992, the central banks of the Baltic states and the Commonwealth of Independent States have undertaken comprehensive reform of their monetary and exchange arrangements in support of their stabilization efforts. Their efforts have been supported by extensive technical assistance provided...

This paper examines the relationship between macroeconomic stabilization and market-oriented reform in planned economies. It emphasizes that market-oriented reform should enhance the likelihood that adjustment to exogenous disturbances will involve genuine adjustment in the sense of actually...

Market-oriented economic reforms in centrally planned economies have altered the functions and objectives of key policy instruments, particularly in the case of fiscal policy. As a result of reform, economic management requires the use of “indirect” levers to regulate the behavior of...

Pakistan undertook major financial sector reforms starting in the late 1980s. The effects of these reforms on the profitability and cost and revenue efficiency of the banking sector are evaluated. The revenue performance of all banks, and especially the privatized banks, improved significantly,...

This technical note assesses the reform of Spanish savings banks (SSBs). It provides a brief overview of the SSB institutional framework before the reform, and describes the main factors that led to the financial distress, albeit uneven, of the SSB sector. The note outlines major regulatory and...

Financial sector reform in the Baltic countries is reviewed in light of the banking crises that emerged during the reform period. It is argued that the crises had their roots in the structural deficiencies specific to planned economies and the financial environment that developed before and...