Belize’s economy is projected to decelerate in 2009 owing to the global downturn. Real GDP growth is projected at 1 percent, reflecting the impact of declining tourism, remittances, and foreign direct investment inflows. Executive Directors have welcomed the broadly favorable economic...

This report discusses the Action Plan for Public Financial Management (PFM) Reforms Based on PEFA Assessment for the Maldives. The purpose of the action plan is to help prioritize efforts in light of scarce resources. The recently completed Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA)...

The Selected Issues Paper focuses on Cyprus' banking sector vulnerabilities and its pension system. The most salient risks for the banking sector come from commercial banks domiciled in Cyprus. These banks have the strongest links with the local economy and are likely to experience further...

Falling international prices have helped lower Haiti’s inflation, but base money growth has continued to be higher than targeted in the program. The paper discusses Haiti’s Annual Progress Report on Implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. In the area of economic...

The SDN discusses the main policy issues and challenges in building an inclusive and safe Islamic finance industry, with emphasis on Islamic banking and Sukuk markets. To this end, it discuses why Islamic finance matters, taking into account its recent and prospective growth; and, its potential...

Financial globalization has increased dramatically over the past three decades, particularly for advanced economies, while emerging market and developing countries experienced more moderate increases. Divergences across countries stem from different capital control regimes, and factors such as...

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to show how the influence of the diffusion speed of a financial innovation (FI) increases the operational risk (OR) in any business line with different rate. Design/methodology/approach -A stochastic model is considered presenting the influence of diffusion...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show that the duration-based hedge ratio has many serious defects: first, the yield-to-maturity is not the market interest rate, and it cannot even serve as a proxy for the market interest rate. Second, it is difficult to choose an appropriate bond for...