The BIS has released its 2012-2013 Annual Report. The Report argues that since 2007, actions by central banks have prevented financial collapse. Further accommodation is borrowing time for others to act.  But the time must be used wisely. The focus of action must be on balance sheet repair, fiscal sustainability and, most of all, the economic and financial reforms needed to return economies to the real growth paths authorities and the public both want and expect (Chapter I).

After reviewing the past year's economic developments (Chapter II), the remaining economic chapters of the Report cover the critical policy challenges in detail: reforming labour and product markets to restore productivity growth (Chapter III), ensuring the sustainability of public finances (Chapter IV), adapting financial regulation to ensure resilience of the increasingly complex global system (Chapter V), and re-emphasising the stabilisation objectives of central banks (Chapter VI).