Low-income countries (LICs) face significant challenges in meeting their development objectives while maintaining a sustainable debt position. The international community's main answer to this dilemma has been to promote recourse to concessional external resources. The Fund's recommendations to...

The IMF Working Papers series is designed to make IMF staff research available to a wide audience. Almost 300 Working Papers are released each year, covering a wide range of theoretical and analytical topics, including balance of payments, monetary and fiscal issues, global liquidity, and...

Analyses of debt relief that focus on the behavior of debtors and existing creditors understate the incentives for collective action by creditors. It is well known that debt relief could benefit existing creditors by providing incentives for domestic investment by residents of debtor countries....

The U.S. economy continues to recover at a modest pace, in line with international experience following severe financial crises. The key priority for fiscal policy is to stabilize the debt ratio and gradually reduce it. The fiscal framework should include an endorsement of the main medium-term...

This 2009 Article IV Consultation highlights that the U.S. economy has experienced the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. In the second half of 2008, financial pressures intensified and came to a head with the failure of Lehman Brothers in September. Executive Directors have...

A detailed assessment report on the observance of the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems-International Organization of Securities Commissions recommendations for China’s Securities Settlement Systems and Central Counterparties is presented. The bond market comprises the interbank...

This Selected Issues paper summarizes estimates of the gap between current housing prices and their equilibrium levels in the United States. It examines short-term dynamics of price adjustment. Reflecting uncertainties about how to analyze underlying housing price trends, two approaches are used...

The report analyses Spain’s financial sector reform program and throws light on the role that the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) played in supporting the restructuring and recapitalization of its financial sector. It stated that the two major areas that have been looked at...

The Euro Area Policies’ 2007 Article IV Consultation reports that the economy is poised for a sustained upswing because of cyclical considerations and policies, which have had a forward-looking cast. The area’s external position and the real effective exchange rate of the euro are...