This Selected Issues paper considers the case of Poland to analyze global financial spillovers to emerging market (EM) sovereign bond markets. Foreign holdings of Polish government bonds have increased substantially over the last decade. Although foreign participation in local-currency sovereign...

This Selected Issues paper provides a brief overview of Slovakia's transformation over this period. The note is divided into three parts. The first section offers some historical background on the run-up to EU accession. The paper also discusses the economic impact of EU accession and highlights...

Considerable progress has been achieved in the post-crisis repair of the UK economy. Private-sector indebtedness has been reduced, the financial sector regulatory framework has been overhauled, the fiscal deficit has been cut in half, and the employment rate has reached a record high. With the...

This paper on Romania was prepared by a staff team of the International Monetary Fund as background documentation for the periodic consultation with the member country. It is based on the information available at the time it was completed on September 13, 2012. The views expressed in this...

Following a strong showing in early 2011, the economies across Europe now face the prospect of a pronounced slowdown, as global growth has softened, risk aversion has risen, and strains in Europe's sovereign debt and financial markets have deepened, according to this issue of the Regional...

This issue of the Regional Economic Outlook for Europe examines the moderate and uneven recovery occurring across the region. The varying speed of recovery in advanced Europe is closely linked to the degree of overheating and credit expansion going into the crisis. The even more varied speed of...

KEY ISSUES Context. Macroeconomic and financial stability has been maintained despite the difficult environment globally—especially in neighboring Greece—and recent domestic discord, but growth remains tepid and unemployment high. Ambitious (and politically challenging) reforms are needed to...

KEY ISSUES Context. The economy is growing at a moderate pace. Abstracting from the impact of new large-scale natural gas production, GDP growth is estimated to have moderated to about 21⁄2 percent in 2013, owing in large part to weak investment and exports. Some pick up is expected in 2014,...

This Selected Issues paper reviews recent developments in growth and employment in Bulgaria and highlights key constraints to growth suggested by cross-country competitiveness studies. Bulgaria's GDP has grown substantially since economic and financial stabilization in 1997. The global economic...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Stand-By Arrangement. A 20-month SBA in an amount of SDR 90.968 million (154 percent of quota) was approved by the Executive Board on April 27, 2012, and the first purchase of SDR 4.251 million was made available following the Board meeting (Country Report 12/100). The second...