A canonical case of a minor crisis has three characteristics: a perception by the OECD that
there were significant problems in the financial sector; a belief that they were affecting credit
supply or the overall performance of the economy in a way that was clearly nontrivial, and not
confined to a minor part of the economy; and a belief that they were not so severe that they were
central to recent macroeconomic developments or to the economy’s prospects. An example of a
regular minor crisis is France in 1996:1, where the OECD described significant problems in the
banking sector, including “high refinancing … costs and large provisions for bad debts,” as well