Rapid Credit Growth in Central and Eastern Europe: Endless Boom or Early Warning?

Rapid credit growth has been one of the most pervasive developments in recent years in Central and Eastern Europe. The benefits of this growth are unquestioned, but so are the potential risks. While rapid credit growth is generally recognized as a potentially serious problem, there is deep uncertainty about how to tackle it. Assessing credit growth and developing appropriate policy responses continues to occupy the minds of policymakers in many of these countries and in the international organizations where this topic has been a major focus of attention for research and policymaking. This book puts together a number of revised and edited contributions that derive largely from presentations at an October 2005 conference organized jointly by the National Bank of Romania and the IMF. The objectives of that conference, and of bringing the papers together in this book, were to provide a channel for sharing experiences and counteractive measures, and to consider how best to take policy work forward. This book offers a useful contribution to the ongoing policy debate in countries experiencing a similar phenomenon.