This Selected Issues paper studies the inefficiencies related to the electricity sector and assesses the potential impact of the 2019 reform plan. Electricity shortages are the second constraint to competitiveness reported by businesses in Lebanon, based on the Enterprise Survey conducted by the...

Swiss financial institutions are well capitalized and could withstand the severe shocks under the adverse stress test scenarios, but macrofinancial vulnerabilities are deepening. Important reforms have been made since the 2014 FSAP, but several critical recommendations and emerging challenges...

This fiscal transparency evaluation (FTE) report assesses fiscal transparency practices in Colombia against the first three pillars of the IMF's Fiscal Transparency Code. Fiscal forecasting and budgeting-Pillar II-is the strongest area in Colombia's FTE. Half of the related indicators are...

A tripolar international monetary system-centered on the U.S. dollar, the deutsche mark, and the yen - appears to be emerging. This paper not only assesses the role of the yen as an international currency but also presents a unified theory of international currency use and distinguishes between...

The NBRB revised in 2018 its regulation on asset classification and provisioning (the Regulation). One of the main changes was the introduction of a new definition for NPLs based on the current framework of risk groups (RGs). This definition substitutes the previous term 'problem assets.' One of...