The insurance sector is underdeveloped and has been inadequately supervised to date, as the regulator lacks the requisite independence, skills, and resources. The three public pension systems, which cover less than 10 percent of the active population, appear to be fiscally unsustainable. The...

This 2009 Article IV Consultation highlights that despite initial resilience partly explained by high wage growth and accelerated government spending in Greece, growth slowed substantially in early 2009. The main driving forces were lower investment and exports, destocking, and a decline in...

This Financial System Stability Assessment on the United Arab Emirates (UAE) examines macroeconomic and financial sector developments. The banking sector as a whole shows comfortable levels of capitalization and profits, having benefited from the rapid expansion of the economy and a steady...

In recent years, the IMF has released a growing number of reports and other documents covering economic and financial developments and trends in member countries. Each report, prepared by a staff team after discussions with government officials, is published at the option of the member country.

This paper presents Mongolia’s Financial System Stability Assessment, including reports on the Observance of Standards and Code. The Mongolian financial system is developing and performing well, in line with the economy as a whole, but faces a number of challenges. There are signs that...

The Slovenian financial system has been hard hit by the crisis. Banks remained highly vulnerable to continued credit deterioration and refinancing risks. Strengthening of financial condition of banks should be the short-term priority. The financial restructuring should be followed by...

Owing to the high dependence of its exports on countries and commodities, Finland experienced the worst recession in the euro area. Executive Directors encouraged authorities to focus on improving bank cost efficiency, preventing excessive risk taking, and limiting liquidity and funding risks....

Robust GDP growth, declining unemployment, low and stable inflation, and a string of fiscal and current account surpluses -- it's a record to be envied. These outcomes in Canada owe much to sound macroeconomic policies, as well as to a favorable external environment. This book focuses on these...

The main vulnerabilities in the financial sector can be found in the banking system and the social security fund (SSNIT). The Ghanaian financial sector is also confronted by a large number of development challenges. The factual updates of Ghana’s observance of the three international...

The aim of this research was to look briefly on the effects of the latest financial crisis in Slovenia. We were interested mostly in banks' results in terms of return on financial/trading assets, return on equity (ROE) and return on assets (ROA) and possible significant changes that might be...