Paraguay’s Fourth Review Under the Stand-By Arrangement and Request for Waiver of Performance Criteria are examined. The main challenge is to consolidate the macroeconomic gains achieved thus far and deepen structural reform. A stable macroeconomic environment will be the key for creating...

Austria’s Financial System Stability Assessment highlights Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes on banking supervision, securities regulation, and insurance regulation. The banking sector has weathered the recent economic slowdown well, and is generally sound and resilient....

This report summarizes the findings of the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) Update for Spain. Although there is a core of strong banks that are well managed and appear resilient to further shocks, vulnerabilities remain. Substantial progress has been made in reforming the former...

This technical note focuses on the Austrian banking system that exhibits considerable resilience against shocks determined by stress tests. The main sources of risk lie in the credit risk arising from exposures to Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe (CESE) and the Commonwealth of...

This technical note focuses on the stress testing exercise in 2010 for the financial sector assessment program based on the existing approaches of the Central Bank of Russia, as well as a separate bottom-up exercise. The tests covered broad ranges of risk factors. The single factor tests...

Rwanda has achieved high growth and macroeconomic stability under three successive Poverty Reduction Growth Facility (PRGF) arrangements. Executive Directors welcomed the new Private Sector Investment (PSI) program, which aims to consolidate macroeconomic stability and achieve sustained...

This paper presents an update on Iceland’s Financial System Stability Assessment. Liquidity ratios, while high, now depend more than before on access to central banks’ liquidity facilities because of the turmoil in global markets, and any reduction in such access would require...

The Irish financial sector has continued to perform well since its participation in the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) in 2000. Although the outlook remains very strong for 2006–07, there are some macroeconomic risks that could have implications for the financial system asset...

This 2009 Article IV Consultation highlights that the global economic crisis has severely affected the Portuguese economy. Output will likely contract by almost 3 percent in 2009, driven by sharp falls in exports and investment. Despite a substantial rise in unemployment to nearly 10 percent,...

This assessment is a review of the financial environment of Malaysia. Like many other Asian countries, Malaysia experienced financial distress in the late 1990s, but the country’s policy reforms have moved it to a successful economy. A ten-year financial plan (2001–10) by Bank...