The COVID-19 pandemic has caused dramatic loss of human life and major damage to the European economy, but thanks to an exceptionally strong policy response, potentially devastating outcomes have been avoided

The Belgian financial system is relatively large, concentrated, and interconnected and has a high level of compliance with the Basel Core Principles (BCPs) for effective banking supervision. The National Bank of Belgium (NBB) deploys high-quality supervisory practices and has clear lines of...

The Belgian insurance industry was adversely affected by the global financial crisis and continued to confront challenges related to legacy assets and economic uncertainties in Europe. The Belgian authorities have made significant progress in updating the insurance regulatory regime and...

The Belgium Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) stress testing exercise examines a financial sector that remains in a state of transformation. Domestic economic challenges remain sources of continued uncertainty as the banking sector consolidates and reduces funding risks. Insurers face...

This paper discusses Greece's Fifth Review Under the Extended Arrangement Under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), and Request for Waiver of Nonobservance of Performance Criterion and Rephasing of Access. Greece has gone from having the weakest to the strongest cyclically adjusted fiscal position...

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 paper focuses on Cyprus' Fourth Review Under the Extended Arrangement Under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and Request for Modification of Performance Criteria. The program remains on track. Fiscal targets for the first quarter were met with considerable margins, domestic payment...

KEY ISSUES Context: The union's current account deficit-the key economic vulnerability flagged in the previous (2011) consultation-has declined over the past few years, including thanks to fiscal adjustment in Curacao. But it remains large. Curacao's growth and job creation remain lackluster,...

Russia entered the crisis with low potential growth but strong macroeconomic policy frameworks and significant buffers. Policy space allowed the authorities to mount a sizeable public health and countercyclical response to the crisis, which has helped limit the economic downturn. Nevertheless,...

Pre-pandemic, Bosnia and Herzegovina's (BiH) economy was growing, but at a pace below the more successful countries in Eastern Europe. The pandemic generated a substantial output contraction in 2020. Early in the pandemic, the authorities successfully implemented restrictions to prevent the...