Narrow Your Choices

Refine By Topic

Refine By Series

Refine By Language

Refine By Date

—

Refine By IMF Taxonomy

Refine By JEL Taxonomy

Refine by LOC Taxonomy

Refine By THEMA Taxonomy

  • Print
  • Save

Europe > Iceland

You are looking at 1 - 10 of 20 items for :

  • Type: Journal Issue x
  • Financial markets x
Clear All Modify Search
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Iceland: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This Selected Issues paper presents a pilot study on integrated policy framework (IPF) in Iceland. The IPF helps assess the appropriate policy responses to shocks for economies vulnerable to capital flow volatility, allowing for some market frictions. Iceland is an advanced economy pilot under the IPF with some of the frictions identified under the IPF framework. The Central Bank of Iceland implements an inflation targeting regime with the possibility of currency intervention within its mandate. The foreign exchange (FX) market in Iceland is assessed to be shallower than in other advanced economies, especially around episodes of global economic and financial stress. Foreign currency assets are mainly due to portfolio allocation of the large pension sector. The authorities should explore options to deepen the foreign currency derivatives market in a manner consistent with continued foreign exchange market stability. Iceland has a history of disruptive speculative foreign currency trading, which points to the need for moving cautiously with reforms to deepening the FX derivatives market. Reforms that could be explored include reassessing the limits on commercial banks’ derivative transactions. This would encourage greater participation of foreign investors in the domestic bond market and facilitate hedging of FX risk, thereby reducing the likelihood of disruptive exchange rate movements.
Keywords:
inflation expectation; FX Market shallowness; QIPF model; Iceland pilot study; staff team of the International Monetary Fund; Currency markets; Inflation; Central bank policy rate; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Iceland: Financial Sector Assessment Program-Technical Note on Cyber and Operational Resilience, Supervision and Oversight
International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department
This technical note focuses on cyber and operational resilience, supervision and oversight in Iceland. The Icelandic financial sector has not experienced seriously disruptive cyber-attacks or operational issues in recent years, but threats are growing. Iceland’s dependence on international connectivity for both debit and credit card systems introduces a significant vulnerability into the payment system. There is no dedicated cyber security strategy for the finance sector. Operational risk experts in the Central Bank of Iceland (CBI) are experienced and well regarded by financial institutions, but more resources are needed to provide adequate coverage of this increasingly important area. The supervision of financial institutions’ cybersecurity is highly dependent on self-assessments by the regulated entities themselves and independent reviews carried out by third parties. CBI should regularly revise the list of critical operations and critical service providers for internal use and for presentation to the Financial Stability Committee and Financial Stability Council. CBI is encouraged to enhance its incident dashboard by summarizing cyber incidents and examining trends.
Keywords:
C. supervision approach; payment services directive; markets authority; market infrastructure; cash payment; Cyber risk; Financial sector stability; Financial sector; Payment systems; Operational risk; Europe; Baltics; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Switzerland: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This Selected Issues paper on Switzerland focuses on assessing Swiss National Bank (SNB) balance sheet changes in 2022. This paper clarifies the main underlying drivers, discusses potential implications, or lack thereof, on monetary and fiscal policies, and assesses the SNB’s financial performance. Central banks’ financial results are not directly comparable with each other, given their non-profit nature, the differences in their mandates and, importantly, their different accounting policies. In particular, many other central banks would have recorded much larger financial losses in 2022 if mark-to-market accounting were applied. The SNB’s financial loss in 2022 is not expected to have an impact on monetary policy operations. The SNB has appropriately warned about risks to its balance sheet, including during periods of high profitability. In addition, the SNB put in place sound safeguards against such risks, and provided transparent communications on its investment strategy. Nevertheless, large balance sheets are subject to risks, highlighting communication challenges during periods of both large profits and losses. In this context, the SNB should continue to regularly review its investment strategy and maintain adequate safeguards.
Keywords:
ECB monetary policy; monetary policy shock; SNB balance sheet; Switzerland NBFIs; mitigation target; Greenhouse gas emissions; Stock markets; Nonbank financial institutions; Climate policy; Global; Europe
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Iceland: 2021 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; Staff Statement; and Statement by the Executive Director for Iceland
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
The Icelandic economy has been severely affected by the pandemic. Sharp tourism contraction and containment measures caused real GDP to plummet by 6.6 percent in 2020. A modest recovery will take hold in 2021. Recovery prospects in the tourism sector depend on control of the epidemic and progress in global and domestic vaccine distribution, spelling a challenging outlook with possibly deep medium-term scarring. Fiscal policy should continue to support the economy for now. Policy buffers accumulated over the last decade provided space for a large fiscal support and accommodated substantial automatic stabilizers. Additional stimulus is planned in 2021 to address still large slack in the economy, mitigate scarring, and provide confidence in the event of downside risks. Medium-term policies should ensure that public debt is firmly on a downward path, while limiting the drag on growth.
Keywords:
inflation expectation; notification band; family support benefit; monetary policy effort; fiscal policy mix; COVID-19; Tourism; Government finance statistics; Financial statistics; Currency markets; Global; Europe
Cover Staff Discussion Notes
A Post-Pandemic Assessment of the Sustainable Development Goals
Ms. Dora Benedek
,
Mr. Edward R Gemayel
,
Mr. Abdelhak S Senhadji
, and
Alexander F. Tieman
The COVID-19 pandemic hit countries’ development agendas hard. The ensuing recession has pushed millions into extreme poverty and has shrunk government resources available for spending on achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This Staff Discussion Note assesses the current state of play on funding SDGs in five key development areas: education, health, roads, electricity, and water and sanitation, using a newly developed dynamic macroeconomic framework.
Keywords:
Sustainable Development Goals, Development, Fiscal Policy, Structural Reform; policy option; composite index; case study countries' SDG spending; financing gap; SDG performance; analysis of development strategy; Sustainable Development Goals (SDG); COVID-19; Human capital; Emerging and frontier financial markets; Infrastructure; Sub-Saharan Africa; Global
Cover Fiscal Monitor, October 2016
Fiscal Monitor, October 2016
Debt: Use It Wisely
Ms. Marialuz Moreno Badia

Abstract

Drawing on an expanded data set covering emerging markets and low-income countries as well as advanced economies, this issue examines the extent and makeup of global debt and asks what role fiscal policy can play in facilitating the adjustment. The analytical framework explicitly models the interlinkages between private and public debt in analyzing the role of fiscal policy in the deleveraging process. Country case studies provide useful insights on what fiscal policy should and should not do to facilitate deleveraging while minimizing the drag on the economy.

Keywords:
FM; def; country abbreviation; bottom; nominal GDP; statistics manual; role fiscal policy; private sector leverage; potential GDP; balance sheet repair; Private debt; Fiscal stance; Macroeconomic and fiscal forecasts; Global; Africa; North Africa; Asia and Pacific; Middle East; IMF staff estimate; credit system; deflation episode; debt level; debt-restructuring program; fiscal policy intervention; debt deflation episode; debt development; debt overhang problem; debt problem; debt write-off; debt repayment; Financial statements; Emerging and frontier financial markets; Europe
Cover IMF Working Papers
Determinants of Financial Market Spillovers: The Role of Portfolio Diversification, Trade, Home Bias, and Concentration
Yoko Shinagawa
This paper defines financial market spillovers as the comovement between two countries’ financial markets and analyzes financial market spillovers over the period 2001-12 through four channels: bilateral portfolio investment, bilateral trade, home bias, and country concentration. The paper finds that, if a country has a large amount of bilateral portfolio exposure in another country, these two countries’ comovement of bond yields are large. Also, countries’ geographical preferences impact financial spillovers; if a country has a stronger home bias, the country could have less spillovers from foreign financial markets. A policy implication from this result is that, if countries become less home-biased and have a greater amount of portfolio investment assets, they should strengthen prudential regulations to mitigate against rising risks of financial spillovers (or risk greater volatility owing to comovement with foreign markets).
Keywords:
WP; market; asset holding; Financial Spillover; Coordinated Portfolio Investment Survey (CPIS); Home Bias; financial market spillover; market contagion; correlation vis-à-vis; heightened market instability; portfolio inflow; Spillovers; Portfolio investment; Stock markets; Stocks; Securities; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Greece: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
Rigidities in Greece’s product and labor markets leading to economic imbalances and the significance of reforms to these markets are played out in the first paper. The second paper describes the problems, progress to date, and agenda for work in Greece’s revenue administration and how this effort has been achieved primarily by raising tax rates to high levels and reducing wages, pensions, and other spending. The third paper is on the need for designing and implementing debt restructuring frameworks as well as improving banks’ loan resolution practices so that Greece’s banks are positioned to support the economic recovery.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; product market; labor market; firm; Greece; product market reform; adjustment cost; revenue administration; flexibility indicator; labor market reform; administration reform; Credit; Commodity markets; Nonperforming loans; Tax administration core functions; Global; Eastern Europe; Baltics
Cover IMF Working Papers
Financial Stability Reports: What Are they Good for?
Ms. Sònia Muñoz
,
Mr. Samir Jahjah
,
Mr. Martin Cihak
,
Ms. Sharika Teh Sharifuddin
, and
Mr. Kalin I Tintchev
The global financial crisis has renewed policymakers' interest in improving the policy framework for financial stability, and an open question is to what extent and in what form should financial stability reports be part of it. We examine the recent experience with central banks' financial stability reports, and find?despite some progress in recent years?that forward-looking perspective and analysis of financial interconnectedness are often lacking. We also find that higher-quality reports tend to be associated with more stable financial environments. However, there is only a weak empirical link between financial stability report publication per se and financial stability. This suggests room for improvement in terms of the quality of financial stability reports.
Keywords:
WP; FSR publication; quality rating; publication dummy; stress test result; FSR transparency; Iceland's FSR; Financial Stability; Central Banking; Macro-Prudential Tools; Systemic Risk; FSR communication; Financial sector stability; Stress testing; Commercial banks; Stock markets; Africa; Global
Cover IMF Performance in the Run-Up to the Financial and Economic Crisis
IMF Performance in the Run-Up to the Financial and Economic Crisis
IMF Surveillance in 2004-07
International Monetary Fund. Independent Evaluation Office

Abstract

The report assesses IMF surveillance in the period leading up to the global financial and economic crisis and offers recommendations on how to strengthen the IMF's ability to discern risks and vulnerabilities in the future. Chapters discuss the unfolding of the crisis and IMF messages prior to the crisis, and analyze the complex factors that influenced the IMF's performance in the run-up to the crisis. A companion CD provides background papers not included in this report.

Keywords:
IEOR; IEO; IMF performance; market; evaluation; IMF surveillance; evaluation team; B. IMF surveillance objective; IMF's analysis; IMF area department; Financial sector; Commercial banks; Emerging and frontier financial markets; Financial stability assessment; Global