Foreign Banks in the CESE Countries : In for a Penny, in for a Pound?

Author/Editor:

Li L Ong ; Andrea M. Maechler

Publication Date:

March 1, 2009

Electronic Access:

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Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary:

The aim of this paper is to construct a comprehensive and consistent dataset to analyze the potential risks from foreign bank lending, for both the creditor and borrower countries of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe (CESE). We develop a picture of bank claims on 13 CESE countries by combining credit statistics from several sources. Our constructed data suggest that some of these host countries have become more at risk from a sudden withdrawal of short-term external funding, while home countries have significant aggregate exposures to the region. Overall, we find that data on banking activity remain largely inadequate for surveillance and policymaking purposes, and that a concerted effort to improve data collection is needed at the international level.

Series:

Working Paper No. 09/54

Subject:

Banking Central and Eastern Europe Cross country analysis Data collection Emerging markets Foreign investment Private sector Southern Europe Spillovers

English

Publication Date:

March 1, 2009

ISBN/ISSN:

9781451872026/1018-5941

Stock No:

WPIEA2009054

Format:

Paper

Pages:

64

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