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Europe > Switzerland

You are looking at 1 - 10 of 14 items for :

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Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Switzerland: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
Selected Issues
Keywords:
Macroprudential policy intervention; revaluation loss; stress test scenario; D. policy implication; equity investment; B. natural gas reliance in Switzerland; Mortgages; Natural gas sector; Exchange rate revaluation; Foreign assets; International investment position; Global; Europe
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Switzerland: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
Selected Issues
Keywords:
D. policy implication; policies equity; liquidity gap; liquidity shortfall; solvency risk; Housing prices; Foreign assets; Pension spending; Retirement; Global financial crisis of 2008-2009; Global; Europe
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Switzerland: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This Selected Issues paper on Switzerland models the evolving behavior of the Swiss franc relative to the world’s major reserve currencies and considers possible reasons for the shifts. Economic fundamentals, including country-partners and currency of denomination of Swiss trade and finance, are likely to affect which currencies the franc co-moves with, although these factors tend to change only slowly. The behavior of the Swiss franc may have also been affected by the global financial crisis and its aftermath, as well as the shift in recent years from synchronized to divergent monetary policies by the major central banks. Identifying reserve currency blocks and the de facto behavior of currencies is an ongoing pursuit. The two dimensions of exchange regimes—the anchor currency (basket) and the degree of exchange rate flexibility—should be identified simultaneously. The implied regimes align well with Switzerland’s de facto exchange rate arrangements and monetary policy frameworks. The approach used in this paper identifies how the franc co-moves with the major reserve currencies but is agnostic about the driving forces behind these moves.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; wage; franc; currency; SNB; monetary policy; brake rule; wage gap; gap vis-à-vis; liquidity mismatch; long-run wage-productivity relationship; SNB's FX purchase; reserve portfolio; wage Phillips curve; Currencies; Wage gap; Wages; Labor productivity; Real wages; Global; Europe; Eastern Europe
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
United Kingdom: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This paper aims to provide European Union (EU), while recognizing that the choice of whether to remain in the EU is for U.K. voters to make and that their decisions will reflect both economic and noneconomic factors. The question of EU membership is both a political and an economic issue, and the referendum has sparked a wide-ranging debate on the United Kingdom’s role in the EU. Given the range of plausible alternative arrangements with the EU, the number of channels by which countries could be affected and the range of possible effects on the United Kingdom and other economies are broad.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; EU membership; UK economy; single market; EU country; EU migrant; EU budget; UK-EU trade; EU regulation; EU economy; EU directive; EU immigrant; Exports; Migration; Tariffs; Income; Foreign direct investment; Global; Europe
Cover IMF Working Papers
The External Wealth of Nations Mark II: Revised and Extended Estimates of Foreign Assets and Liabilities, 1970–2004
Mr. Philip R. Lane
and
Mr. Gian M Milesi-Ferretti
We construct estimates of external assets and liabilities for 145 countries for the period 1970-2004. We describe our estimation methods and present key features of the data at the country and the global level. We focus on trends in net and gross external positions, and the composition of international portfolios, distinguishing between foreign direct investment, portfolio equity investment, official reserves, and external debt. We document the increasing importance of equity financing and the improvement in the external position for emerging markets, and the differing pace of financial integration between advanced and developing economies. We also show the existence of a global discrepancy between estimated foreign assets and liabilities, and identify the asset categories that account for this discrepancy.
Keywords:
WP; portfolio equity liability; cumulated portfolio equity outflow; liability position; portfolio equity inflow
Cover IMF Working Papers
Financial Globalization and Exchange Rates
Mr. Gian M Milesi-Ferretti
and
Mr. Philip R. Lane
The founders of the Bretton Woods System 60 years ago were primarily concerned with orderly exchange rate adjustment in a world economy that was characterized by widespread restrictions on international capital mobility. In contrast, the rapid pace of financial globalization during recent years poses new challenges for the international monetary system. In particular, large gross cross-holdings of foreign assets and liabilities mean that the valuation channel of exchange rate adjustment has grown in importance, relative to the traditional trade balance channel. Accordingly, this paper empirically explores some of the interconnections between financial globalization and exchange rate adjustment and discusses the policy implications.
Keywords:
WP; U.S. dollar; exchange rate; trade balance
Cover IMF Working Papers
FDI Spillovers, Financial Markets, and Economic Development
Selin Sayek
,
Laura Alfaro
,
Areendam Chanda
, and
Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan
This paper examines the role financial markets play in the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and economic development. We model an economy with a continuum of agents indexed by their level of ability. Agents can either work for the foreign company or undertake entrepreneurial activities, which are subject to a fixed cost. Better financial markets allow agents to take advantage of knowledge spillovers from FDI, magnifying the output effects of FDI. Empirically, we show that well-developed financial markets allow significant gains from FDI, while FDI alone plays an ambiguous role in contributing to development.
Keywords:
WP; central bank; economic growth; entrepreneurial activity; financial markets; foreign direct investment; net FDI inflow; FDI enterprise; FDI share; FDI flow; FDI sector; Financial sector; Financial sector development; Stock markets; Foreign corporations; Sub-Saharan Africa; Africa
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Switzerland: Selected Issues and Statistical Appendix
International Monetary Fund
The Swiss banking system is characterized by a two-tier structure. The first tier is composed of the two large banks and some smaller banks focused on private banking, all of which have a significant international presence. These banks represent, so to speak, the “international face” of the Swiss banks. They are mostly joint-stock companies or privately owned (unlimited personal liability). The second tier is composed of a varied group of banks, mostly focused on domestic, or even regional, business.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; asset; bank; cantonal bank; share; portfolio share; portfolio equity assets; foreign assets; asset characteristic; Foreign assets; Current account; Foreign banks; Current account surpluses; Investment banking; Global; Europe
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Switzerland: Selected Background Issues
International Monetary Fund
This Selected Background Issues paper on Switzerland reviews a few monetary and exchange rate issues, including questions related to the monetary policy framework and the assessment of recent monetary conditions and exchange rate developments. The paper examines the Swiss savings and investment levels from a welfare point of view, employing for this purpose some “golden rule” criteria of capital accumulation put forward in the academic literature. It finds that, with its unusually high levels of saving, Switzerland may be one of the few advanced industrialized countries that strictly fulfills the “golden rule” criteria.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; Switzerland; capital; asset; rate of return; investment income; background issues paper consist; export price; income credit; interest rate differential; investments assets; GDP ratio; Capital accumulation; Real interest rates; Exports; Export prices; Personal income; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Current Account Surpluses and the Interest Rate Island in Switzerland
Mr. Paolo Mauro
This paper describes some long-run aspects of the Swiss balance of payments, highlighting two macroeconomic phenomena that make Switzerland stand out among other countries: first, it has had a persistent current account surplus and the largest ratio of net foreign assets to GDP in the world; second, its real interest rates have been significantly lower than those of most other industrialized countries, earning it the label “interest rate island”. These two distinctive features may be related, and ultimately both may result from an excess of national savings over investment for many years. The real interest differential may largely be attributed to a foreign exchange rate risk premium, which compensates Swiss residents for holding net assets in foreign currency and foreign residents for bearing net liabilities in Swiss francs.
Keywords:
WP; exchange rate risk; rate of return; return on assets; trade balance; foreign exchange; real interest rate differential; R&D spending; expected return; trade pattern; trading partner; exchange rate risk risk premium; real interest rates in Switzerland; balance of payments; deutsche mark; surplus in Switzerland; Switzerland real interest rates; Foreign assets; Real interest rates; Current account surpluses; Interest rate parity; Purchasing power parity; Global