The 2012 Article IV Consultation with France discusses the financial and economic conditions of the country. Although … France weathered the 2008 financial and subsequent euro area crises relatively well compared with other advanced countries …, its recovery has been sluggish. France has become a less open economy and reported a steady loss of export market share …

This paper discusses key findings of the Detailed Assessment of Observance of Insurance Core Principles for France. The … assessment reveals that insurance regulation and supervision are still predominantly carried out using a Solvency I approach. The … insurance sector remained resilient through the recent global financial crisis. A thorough approach to assessing insurer …

This Selected Issues paper reviews business investment patterns in France during the crisis. The main motivation is to …

the catch-up in labor utilization productivity and use independent demographic projections and other considerations to … make reasonable assumptions about labor productivity and utilization growth in the future. It uses a simple growth …-accounting framework, and discusses the trends in labor utilization and productivity per hour in the past. The paper also describes the …

. Ongoing activities include Islamic banking, sukuk issuances (to finance infrastructure projects), Takaful (insurance), and …

The Belgian insurance industry was adversely affected by the global financial crisis and continued to confront … in updating the insurance regulatory regime and supervisory practice. The updated regulatory framework has a high level … of observance with the Insurance Core Principles (ICPs), supported by robust prudential supervision. The authorities are …