This technical note explores the reasons for a comparatively high interest rate spread in Kazakhstan in the context of competition in the banking sector. In spite of significant gains in efficiency made in recent years, operational costs and provisioning for loan losses remain high compared with...

Portugal’s financial system is sound, well-managed and competitive, with shorter-term risks and vulnerabilities well contained, and with the system buttressed by a strong financial policy framework. Portuguese banks’ profitability, asset quality, and solvency have held up well in...

Non-performing loans (NPLs) were found to respond to macroeconomic conditions, such as GDP growth, unemployment, and inflation; there are also strong feedback effects from the banking system to the real economy. This suggests that the high NPLs that many CESEE countries currently face adversely...

Economic growth in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has been impressive with GDP. The dominance of foreign-owned bank subsidiaries has transformed the financial sector and altered the risks to financial stability. Reforms should focus on strengthening banking supervision and adapting it to the...

In this study, the processes involved in the financial stability of Rwanda after the global crisis are imparted. High growth and major risks included in macroeconomic stability are analyzed. In the case of the banking sector, the structure, performance, and competition of Rwandan banks are...

The key findings of Mauritius’s Financial System Stability Assessment update are discussed. The Mauritian financial system has been resilient to recent economic shocks, and banks have adequate capital buffers against a range of shocks to their credit portfolios and liquidity positions....

The impact of the financial crisis on Sweden’s economy and financial sector is analyzed in this study. From the financial stability analysis, banks are resilient to credit risk and could face difficulties with respect to liquidity risk. The frameworks of international reserve management...

The Australian banking system, which holds approximately half of total financial systems assets, and is dominated by four major banks, is sound with high earnings, high asset growth, and low levels of problem assets. Stress tests did not reveal near-term stability concerns, suggesting the...

The study focuses on corrective fiscal policies for 2000, the budgets for 2001, and the agenda for structural reform. An important issue discussed in revising the 2000 budgets was the expenditure policy required to contain spending commitments within available resources. The authorities have...

This paper discusses key findings of the Financial System Stability Assessment (FSSA) for the Republic of Mozambique. As a result of a comprehensive financial sector reform program largely based on the 2003 Financial Sector Assessment Program recommendations, Mozambique has made significant...