Policy Papers
2014
July 23, 2014
Revised Operational Guidance to IMF Staff on the 2002 Conditionality Guidelines
Description:
This note aims to provide broad guidance on the operational implications of the 2002 Conditionality Guidelines and the key principles underlying the design of conditionality in Fund-supported programs. These five inter-related principles are national ownership of programs, parsimony in program-related conditions, tailoring of programs to country circumstances, effective coordination with other multilateral institutions, and clarity in the specification of conditions. The operational issues covered are grouped into three areas: program discussions with the authorities and program design, the design of conditionality, and the presentation of conditionality in Board papers.
The note is not intended as a comprehensive guide, but rather as an aid to the implementation of the guidelines and the underlying principles. It should be used in conjunction with other relevant operational guidance notes, such as those on jobs and growth issues and debt sustainability analysis. It will continue to be revised on a periodic basis, especially following regular reviews of the conditionality guidelines.
July 2, 2014
Quota Formula—Data Update and Further Considerations
Description:
The IMF staff has updated individual member country data for the variables used in the quota formula for the period 2000-12. The updated database also incorporates the recently released 2011 International Comparison Program (ICP) global estimates for purchasing power parity rates (PPP) rates.
The staff paper also presents updated calculated quota shares based on the current quota formula. The current quota formula includes a GDP variable, which is a blend of GDP at market rates and GDP at purchasing power parity (PPP), openness, variability, and international reserves. The International Monetary and Financial Committee has called for agreement on a new quota formula as part of the 15th General Review of Quotas. The paper presents a limited set of illustrative simulations of possible reforms of the quota formula using the updated quota data. These simulations are purely illustrative and do not represent proposals.
The new data tables that can be downloaded via the below link include also the comparable value of each variable for the previous quota dataset, which was based on data covering the period 1999-2011. The information is presented in millions of SDRs (Table A1) and in percent of their respective global totals (Tables A2 and A3). A table showing calculated quota shares based on the current quota formula is also included (Table A4).
Data sources and a description of the quota variables are discussed in Quota Formula – Data Update and Further Considerations - Statistical Appendix; IMF Policy Paper; July 2014.
Download Quota Data: Updated IMF Quota Formula Variables - July 2014
June 30, 2014
Sixth Periodic Monitoring Report on the Status of Implementation Plans in Response to Board-Endorsed IEO Recommendations
Description: This Periodic Monitoring Report (PMR) reviews the status of implementation of actions set out in four Management Implementation Plans (MIPs) that were endorsed by the Board in the period since the last (fifth) PMR, which was issued in September 2012, and approved by the Board in February 2013. It also presents a brief update of progress on relevant issues related to previous MIPs agreed since 2007.
June 30, 2014
Review of the IMF's Communications Strategy
Description:
The framework guiding the IMF’s communications—established by the Executive Board in 2007—has enabled the institution to respond flexibly to the changing global context. The framework is based on four guiding principles: (i) deepening understanding and support for the Fund’s role and policies; (ii) better integrating communications into the IMF’s daily operations; (iii) raising the impact of new communications materials and technologies; and (iv) rebalancing outreach efforts to take account of different audiences. In addition, greater emphasis has been placed on strengthening internal communications to help ensure institutional coherence in the Fund’s outreach activities.
Continued efforts are needed to strengthen communications going forward. Several issues deserve particular attention. First, taking further steps to ensure clarity and consistency in communication in a world where demand for Fund services continues to rise. Second, doing more to assess the impact of IMF communications and thus better inform efforts going forward. Third, engaging strategically and prudently with new media—including social media.
June 26, 2014
2014 Pilot External Sector Report
Description: The IMF’s third Pilot External Sector Report (ESR) presents a multilaterally consistent assessment of the largest economies’ external sector positions and policies for 2013 and early 2014. The report integrates the analysis from the Fund’s bilateral and multilateral surveillance to provide a coherent assessment of exchange rates, current accounts, reserves, capital flows, and external balance sheets. Together with the Spillover Report and Article IV consultations (with their heightened focus on spillovers), this Report is part of a continuous effort to ensure the Fund is in a good position to address the possible effects of spillovers from members’ policies on global stability and monitor the stability of members’ external sectors in a comprehensive manner.
June 26, 2014
2014 Pilot External Sector Report - Individual Economy Assessments
Description: The external sector assessments use a range of methods and metrics, including the External Balance Assessment approach developed by the IMF’s Research Department to estimate desirable levels of current account balances and real exchange rates (Box 3 of the 2014 Pilot External Sector Report discusses the use of this methodology). The overall assessments of external positions are based on the judgment of IMF staff drawing on the inputs provided by these model estimates and other analysis, including assessment of international reserves holdings, while taking account of relevant uncertainties. The assessments, which are multilaterally consistent, highlight the role of policies in shaping external positions.
June 25, 2014
2014 Spillover Report
Description:
Global spillovers have entered a new phase. With crisis-related spillovers and risks fading, changing growth patterns are the main source of spillovers in the global economy at this juncture. Two key trends are highly relevant here. First, signs of self-sustaining recovery in some advanced economies indicate that the unwinding of exceptional monetary accommodation will proceed and lead to a tightening of global financial conditions in the coming years. An uneven recovery, though, suggests normalization will proceed at different times in different countries, with possible spillover implications. Second, growth in emerging markets is slowing on a broad basis since its precrisis peak and can carry noticeable spillover effects at the global level.
Model code and programs used for the spillover simulations can be made available. Data used for the empirical analysis can be made available unless restricted by copyright or confidentiality issues.
Catalogue of all charts from the 2014 Spillover Report
June 18, 2014
Update on the Fiscal Transparency Initiative
Description: This paper provides an update on staff’s work on a new Fiscal Transparency Code (FTC) and experiences with the initial pilot Fiscal Transparency Evaluations (FTE), the ground work for which was laid in a 2012 paper “Fiscal Transparency, Accountability, and Risk.” Both are part of ongoing efforts by the Fiscal Affairs Department, in cooperation with other departments, to strengthen the Fund’s fiscal surveillance and capacity building. The new FTC and FTE reflect the lessons of the recent crisis, incorporate developments in international standards, and build on feedback from consultations with stakeholders.
June 11, 2014
Sovereign Asset-Liability Management - Guidance for Resource-Rich Economies
Description: Ample natural resource revenues create both opportunities and challenges for a sovereign to transform its natural resources into well-managed financial assets. Hence, inter-temporal smoothing of revenue and consumption/investment moves to the center stage of macroeconomic policies. The questions arising from natural resource wealth accumulation are becoming more pressing for many countries, given the need to achieve intergenerational equity in a context where commodity prices may not continue their upward trajectory of the past decade. Addressing these questions requires a flexible sovereign asset-liability management (SALM) framework that integrates various macroeconomic and financial trade-offs with the aim of containing financial risk to the sovereign balance sheet. The framework and policy advice aims to guide policymakers across different institutions in weighing those trade-offs.