Food Price Crisis, Inflation Risks, Mark Plant, IMF and the Food Crisis, Multilateral Initiative, Middle East Regional OUtllok, Emerging Markets' Resilience, Côte d'Ivoire's Comeback, Ghana's Financial Reforms, Islamic Banks and Financial Stability, Report on IMF Governance, Tom Bernes, News Briefs.

Food prices, Europe, Michael Deppler, Small States, Abdoulaye Bio-Tchane, Germany, Czech Fiscal Reform, Sustaining Growth, Decline in Funds to Emerging Markets, IMF Loan to Togo, Vietnam's New Challenges, News Briefs.

Financial market turbulence; world growth; global outlook; financial market outlook; subprime fallout; writedowns; risk management; credit rating agencies; prudential oversight; liquidity management; risk measurement; public debt; subprime crisis; central bank liquidity; financial turmoil; open market operations; liquidity; securities valuation; risk modeling; Ghana; bond issue; Niger; debt relief; Millennium Development Goals; fiscal management; fiscal transparency; Latin America; Davos

Antoinette Sayeh interview, IMF clarifies surveillance process, Georgia loan, Olivier Blanchard interview, Africa's financial sector, EMU slowdown, EU transfers, sovereign wealth fund principles, United Kingdom outlook, Uruguay's financial issues, Saudi Arabia's oil bonanza, news briefs.

Financial Soundness Indicators (FSIs) are measures that indicate the current financial health and soundness of a country's financial institutions, and their corporate and household counterparts. FSIs include both aggregated individual institution data and indicators that are representative of the markets in which the financial institutions operate. FSIs are calculated and disseminated for the purpose of supporting macroprudential analysis--the assessment and surveillance of the strengths and vulnerabilities of financial systems--with a view to strengthening financial stability and limiting the likelihood of financial crises. Financial Soundness Indicators: Compilation Guide is intended to give guidance on the concepts, sources, and compilation and dissemination techniques underlying FSIs; to encourage the use and cross-country comparison of these data; and, thereby, to support national and international surveillance of financial systems.

Growth, inflation, subprime market crisis, technical assistance, Ghana, fiscal discipline, money laundering, social spending, wage bill ceilings, housing bust, Japan, Lipsky, Swaziland, foreign direct investment, news briefs.

Global financial crisis, Iceland, Poul Thomsen, IMF work program, IMF Shocks Facility, Kyrgyz Republic; Malawi; Exogenous Shocks Facility, Pakistan loan, IMF and social safety nets, gains against poverty in jeopardy, commodity prices slump, Latin America withstands shocks, Improved policies help Latin America, Asian Regional Outlook, Bosnia and Herzegovina, news briefs.