With financial markets worldwide facing growing turmoil, internationally coherent and decisive policy measures will be required to restore confidence in the global financial system. Failure to do so could usher in a period in which the ongoing deleveraging process becomes increasingly disorderly and costly for the real economy. In any case, the process of restoring an orderly system will be challenging, as a significant deleveraging is both necessary and inevitable. It is against this challenging and still evolving backdrop that the Global Financial Stability Report (GFSR) frames the recent events to suggest potential policy measures that could be helpful in the current circumstances. --Executive Summary of IMF's Global Financial Stability Report, April 2009 The semiannual Global Financial Stability Report (GFSR) assesses key risks facing the global financial system with a view to identifying those that represent systemic vulnerabilities. In normal times, the