In recent years, the IMF has released a growing number of reports and other documents covering economic and financial developments and trends in member countries. Each report, prepared by a staff team after discussions with government officials, is published at the option of the member country.

The study shows that the global financial crisis has adversely affected Kuwait’s financial system, especially in the Investment Company (IC) sector. Stress tests indicate that, in contrast to the ICs, the banking system could broadly withstand significant shocks. The Central Bank of...

The slow-paced growth rate of the U.S. economy, notwithstanding the bolstering attempts is disheartening. Implementing financial reforms and highly accommodative monetary policy are hoped to have a desired effect. Deficit reduction, debt ratio stabilizing strategies, removal of fiscal cliff...

South Africa has made substantial progress in addressing the recommendations of the Financial Sector Assessment Program and is continuing to build upon these accomplishments. The Financial Services Board and Department of Trade and Industry both are organizations with the legal authority to...

Various indicators place Cyprus’s banking system soundness ahead of emerging countries but behind advanced economies. This report discusses financial sector stability in Cyprus, using a combination of accounting-based and market-based indicators, and stress tests. Cypriot commercial banks...

This report presents a description of the stress test exercises for Spain’s banking and insurance systems. The exercises were carried out in the context of the Financial Sector Assessment Program with the aim of assessing the resilience of the financial system to key risks. It describes...

This paper surveys the foreign exchange markets, money and secondary government security markets, and stock exchanges in 107 smaller economy countries. The underdevelopment of these markets impedes risk transfer, monetary policy, corporate financing, and the capacity to absorb capital inflows....

This paper analyzes through what channels the euro crisis has affected firm valuations globally. It examines stock price responses over the past year for 3045 non-financial firms in 16 countries to three key crisis events. Using pre-crisis benchmarks, it separates effects arising from changes in...