IMF Publishes Global Financial Stability Report in April 2019

The April 2019 Global Financial Stability Report finds that despite significant variability over the past two quarters, financial conditions remain accommodative. As a result, financial vulnerabilities have continued to build in the sovereign, corporate, and non-bank financial sectors in several systemically important countries, leading to elevated medium-term risks. The report attempts to provide a comprehensive assessment of these vulnerabilities while focusing on corporate sector debt in advanced economies, the sovereign–financial sector nexus in the euro area, financial imbalances in China, volatile portfolio flows to emerging markets, and downside risks to the housing market. These vulnerabilities require action by policymakers, including through the clear communication of any changes in their monetary policy outlook, the deployment and expansion of macro-prudential tools, the stepping up of measures to repair public- and private-sector balance sheets, and the strengthening of emerging market resilience to foreign portfolio outflows.

This report also takes an in depth look at house prices at risk, which is a measure of downside risks to future house price growth—using theory, insights from past analyses, and new statistical techniques applied to 32 advanced and emerging market economies and major cities. Policymakers can use estimates of house prices at risk to complement other surveillance indicators of housing market vulnerabilities and guide macro-prudential policy actions aimed at building buffers and reducing vulnerabilities. Authorities considering measures to manage capital flows might also find such information useful when a surge in capital inflows increases downside risks to house prices and when other policy options are limited.

Related Link: Global Financial Stability Report

Keywords: International, Banking, Securities, Financial Stability, Systemic Risk, Macro-Prudential Policy, GFSR, IMF