This Selected Issues paper for Panama reports that the administration is developing a strategy to enhance growth and competitiveness in the Panamanian economy. Corruption is perceived as a widespread phenomenon that has affected both private and public sectors in Panama at various levels of...

In today's financial system, complex financial institutions are connected through an opaque network of financial exposures. These connections contribute to financial deepening and greater savings allocation efficiency, but are also unstable channels of contagion. Basel III and Solvency II should...

This paper assesses countries' compliance with the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) international standard during the period 2004 to 2011. We find that overall compliance is low; there is an adverse impact on financial transparency created by the...

This simulation-based paper investigates the impact of different methods of dynamic provisioning on bank soundness and shows that this increasingly popular macroprudential tool can smooth provisioning costs over the credit cycle and lower banks’ probability of default. In addition, the...

This 2013 Article IV Consultation highlights that in a context of weakening economic conditions in Europe and sizeable fiscal consolidation and domestic policy uncertainty, the French economy flat lined in 2012. However, recent improvements in economic indicators support the expectation of a...

This 2013 Article IV Consultation highlights that the Spanish economy accumulated large imbalances during the long boom that ended with the global financial crisis. Unemployment soared, the fiscal position deteriorated sharply, and funding conditions tightened for both the public and private...

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 assessment is a featured report of Turkey’s credit boom in the middle of 2011. The country faced the global crisis successfully because of earlier significant capital buffers. Overall, the country was healthy financially, but there was a slowdown in loan growth and market...

The financial stability of Chad is analyzed in this study. Chad's financial system is one of the least developed in the CEMAC region. Chad’s financial system is highly dependent on oil and agriculture, since it is a low-income country. In structuring the financial sector, the soundness...

This paper on the Republic of Poland’s Financial System Stability Assessment highlights economic policies and development. Skillful policy management and sound fundamentals have allowed the economy to weather the global financial crisis, and the euro area turmoil. Risk drivers include...