Largely thanks to the recovery of the real economy, the situation of Russian banks has improved again. After month-on-month loan growth had quickly ground to a halt in late 2008, banks contributed to Russia’s deep economic slump in 2009. The share of nonperforming loans had tripled to 10% of...

Following a sharp recession in 2009, the Ukrainian economy recovered in 2010 and 2011. In particular in 2011, domestic demand-led growth was accompanied by widening external imbalances. The economy’s external vulnerabilities – related to the current account deficit (2011: 5.6% of...

Pushed by expanding income (on the back of rising oil prices) and by rapid external debt accumulation, the Kazakh banking sector featured one of the most dynamic credit booms in CESEE until 2007. Following the U.S. subprime crisis, banks’ access to external funding plummeted and credit...

Following a sharp recession in 2009, the Ukrainian economy recovered in 2010 and 2011. In particular in 2011, domestic demand-led growth was accompanied by widening external imbalances. The economy’s external vulnerabilities – related to the current account deficit (2011: 5.6% of GDP) and...

This study was drafted during the preparation of the Fifth Joint High-Level Eurosystem – Bank of Russia Seminar hosted by the OeNB in Vienna on March 11–12, 2009. The first part of the study illustrates developments in the euro area, where the financial sector suffered to some extent from...

Ukraine’s banking sector was strongly hit by the global economic crisis which began in September 2008 and triggered an extreme output contraction (–20%) in the first quarter of 2009 and a sharp depreciation of the Ukrainian hryvnia (–35%). Loss of confidence in the banking sector and...

Pushed by expanding income (on the back of rising oil prices) and by rapid external debt accumulation, the Kazakh banking sector featured one of the most dynamic credit booms in CESEE until 2007. Following the U.S. subprime crisis, banks’ access to external funding plummeted and credit...