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...

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...

This paper highlights the state of Public Finances Cross-Country Fiscal Monitor. This edition of the Cross-Country Fiscal Monitor provides an update of global fiscal developments and policy strategies, based on projections from the November 2009 WEO. These projections reflect the assessment of...

The Nigerian financial system underwent a banking crisis in 2008–09, owing to the global financial crisis and domestic events. The decisive crisis response effectively stabilized the banking system, but the challenge now is to devise a credible exit strategy. The Central Bank of Nigeria...

In the past decade, most of the EU New Member States experienced a severe credit-boom bust cycle. This paper argues that the credit boom-bust cycle was to a large extent the result of factors external to the region (“bad luck”). Rapid credit growth followed from a high liquidity in global...

This technical note covers the insurance sector supervised by the CBR. The analysis was carried out as part of the 2016 Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) of the Russian Federation, and was based on the regulatory framework, supervisory practices and other conditions as they existed in...

This assessment of insurance regulation in Indonesia was carried out as part of the 2016-17 Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP). The Indonesian insurance sector is still vulnerable to a number of material risks. A number of insurers have failed in the last 10 years. After its...

The Thai insurance sector is a relatively small but growing part of the country's financial services industry. Insurance sector assets have grown from 10 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2006 to over 22 percent of GDP in 2016, constituting 9 percent of total financial industry assets....

This note summarizes the conclusions of the review of the insurance sector in the Philippines as part of the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP). The main objectives of the assessment are to review the performance and structure of the insurance sector in the Philippines with respect to:...

The penetration level of the insurance and pension sectors in Malawi is low, but it seems adequate as compared with other countries in similar stages of development. Concentration and costs are high, the regulatory framework is outdated or inexistent and supervision is weak. An innovative pilot...