This Selected Issues paper aims to present a medium-term reform strategy that could be pursued by Libya to accelerate its transition to a market economy. The paper reviews the main characteristics of the Libyan economy, and medium-term prospects under current policies. It examines the priority...

This paper presents a Detailed Assessment and Updates of Financial Sector Standards and Codes for Kazakhstan. The assessment reveals that although Kazakhstan’s banking system is liquid, there are significant variations from bank to bank, with the distinctions between the tenge and foreign...

A rapidly growing empirical literature is studying the causes and consequences of bank fragility in present-day economies. The paper reviews the two basic methodologies adopted in cross-country empirical studies-the signals approach and the multivariate probability model-and their application to...

Algeria’s Financial System Stability Assessment highlights the Observance of Standards and Codes on monetary and financial policy transparency and banking supervision. Financial intermediation in Algeria will be bank-based in the future, and only politically difficult decisions to...

This 2004 Article IV Consultation highlights that macroeconomic developments in Belarus in 2003 were mixed. Although in real terms GDP, industrial production, and agriculture all grew by 6.8 percent; according to official data prepared on Belarusian national methodology growth, would be lower on...

The paper proposes a theoretical argument on the nature of bank lending, based on the idea that, through commitment and monitoring, banks overcome basic informational asymmetries with borrowers. By bringing together loan commitment theories and credit rationing theories, the paper shows that,...

The paper's central theme is that where a financial crisis emerges, regional supervisors should have systems in place to effectively respond to their country-specific crises and-in the case of foreign operations and financial conglomerates-to collaborate comprehensively with other supervisory...

This Detailed Assessment of Compliance with the Basel Core Principles for Samoa highlights general preconditions for effective banking supervision. The Central Bank of Samoa (CBS) should consider introducing some straightforward specific capital charges for market price risk and foreign exchange...

This paper looks at the empirical record whether big infrastructure and public capital drives have succeeded in accelerating economic growth in low-income countries. It looks at big long-lasting drives in public capital spending, as these were arguably clear and exogenous policy decisions. On...

This Selected Issues paper analyzes sustaining potential growth in Aruba. As in the other Caribbean countries, there are growing concerns in Aruba about the slowdown in economic growth over the past two decades and the consequent tepid outlook for potential growth. Tackling such concerns...