Policy Papers
2014
April 1, 2014
FY2015-FY2017 Medium-Term Budget
Description: The proposed FY 15–17 Medium-Term Budget (MTB) was formulated within the Fund’s strategic planning framework to align allocation of resources to the delivery of institutional priorities.
April 1, 2014
Revised Guidelines for Public Debt Management
Description:
The Guidelines for Public Debt Management (Guidelines) have been developed as part of a broader work program undertaken by the IMF and the World Bank to strengthen the international financial architecture, promote policies and practices that contribute to financial stability and transparency, and reduce countries’ external vulnerabilities.
In developing the Guidelines, IMF and World Bank staffs worked in close collaboration with debt management entities from a broad group of IMF-World Bank member countries and international institutions in a comprehensive outreach process. The debt managers’ insights, which this process brought to the Guidelines, have enabled the enunciation of broadly applicable principles, as well as institutional and operational foundations, that have relevance for members with a wide range of institutional structures and at different stages of development.
The revision of the Guidelines was requested by the G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, at their meeting in Moscow, on February 15–16, 2013. Since their adoption in 2001, and amendments in 2003, financial sector regulatory changes and macroeconomic policy developments, especially in response to the recent financial crisis, have significantly affected the general financial landscape. As a consequence, many countries have experienced significant shifts in their debt portfolios, in terms of both size and composition. Accordingly, the Guidelines were reviewed and revised to reflect the evolving public debt management challenges over the last decade.
March 24, 2014
Staff Guidance Note on the Fund's Engagement with Small Developing States
Description: This note highlights the unique economic characteristics and constraints facing small developing states. It provides operational guidance on Fund engagement with such countries, including on how small country size might influence the use of Fund facilities and instruments, program design, capacity building activities, and collaboration with other institutions and donors. The guidance note draws on the March 2013 Board papers on small states and the associated Executive Board discussion. The findings of the paper and implications for Fund engagement with small states were presented to small states authorities during the 2013 Annual Meetings, as well as in regional IMF conferences with small states in the Bahamas (September 2013) and Vanuatu (November 2013).
March 19, 2014
Modifications to the Special Data Dissemination Standard Plus
Description: The Special Data Dissemination Standard Plus (SDDS Plus) was established in October 2012 to reinforce and supplement the Fund’s Data Standards Initiatives and assist Fund members who decide to adhere to the SDDS Plus with regard to the publication of comprehensive, timely, accessible, and reliable economic and financial statistical data in a world of continuing economic and financial integration. The SDDS Plus also requires adherents to disseminate metadata to promote public knowledge and understanding of their compilation practices with respect to the required data categories. Following consultations conducted between Fund staff and members’ authorities of potential adherents to the SDDS Plus, it appeared necessary to introduce certain modifications to the SDDS Plus legal framework to facilitate adherence. These modifications are consistent with views expressed by Executive Directors in informal discussions with staff, and entail (i) extending the timeliness of three data categories and (ii) maintaining consistency with the principle underlying the SDDS Plus framework under which subscribers may chose to adopt new methodologies or continue to follow older ones. The Executive Board approved, on a lapse-of-time basis, the proposed decision in the paper. The existing rules governing the SDDS Plus are superseded by the new SDDS Plus legal text.
March 12, 2014
Global Liquidity - Issues for Surveillance
Description: The paper starts by presenting evidence of commonality in global financial conditions. This commonality is then related to specific drivers of global financial conditions through a range of transmission channels, including cross-border banking and portfolio flows. Empirical analysis shows a range of price and quantity factors, including measures of risk, bank leverage, and interest rates in financial centers, to drive in part these flows. Country specific policies, including exchange rate and prudential frameworks, are shown to affect the transmission of global conditions. Much remains unknown though, including how evolving structures of global funding, changing institutions, and ongoing financial innovations affect the mechanics of liquidity creation, the channels of liquidity transmission, and potential risks going forward.
March 7, 2014
Sustaining Long-Run Growth and Macroeconomic Stability in Low-Income Countries—The Role of Structural Transformation and Diversification
Description: Diversification and structural transformation play important roles in influencing the macroeconomic performance of low-income countries (LICs). Increases in income per capita at early stages of development are typically accompanied by a transformation in a country’s production and export structure. This can include diversification into new products and trading partners as well as increases in the quality of existing products.
Notes:
Also Available in French
March 5, 2014
Conditionality in Evolving Monetary Policy Regimes
Description: With single-digit inflation and substantial financial deepening, developing countries are adopting more flexible and forward-looking monetary policy frameworks and ascribing a greater role to policy interest rates and inflation objectives. While some countries have adopted formal inflation targeting regimes, others have developed frameworks with greater target flexibility to accommodate changing money demand, use of policy rates to signal the monetary policy stance, and implicit inflation targets.
February 20, 2014
Review of the Fund's Strategy on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism
Description: The Fund’s Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) program represents an important contribution to the international community’s response to money laundering and terrorist financing over the past decade. The program originally focused primarily on (a) AML/CFT assessments – as part of the Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC) program and of the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) – and (b) capacity development activities. Following guidance provided by the Board in 2011, money laundering, terrorist financing and related predicate crimes issues (hereinafter also referred to as financial integrity issues) are being raised in the context of surveillance when they are judged to affect domestic and balance of payments stability. Moreover, some recent Fund-supported programs have also incorporated financial integrity issues.
February 20, 2014
Lag for Public Access to the Minutes of Executive Board Meetings
Description: At the recent Review of the Fund’s Transparency Policy on June 24, 2013, the Executive Board agreed to further consider options to reduce the time lag for public access to Executive Board meeting minutes under the Open Archives Policy. Although a majority of Executive Directors saw scope for reducing the time lag for public access to Board meeting minutes from five years to three years, a significant minority of Directors favored maintaining the existing lag in order to strike a balance between informing the public about the Board’s views and maintaining the candor of Board discussions. The Board requested that staff undertake further analysis of the issue. Accordingly, this paper provides a more detailed assessment of the current practice and a discussion of the potential costs and benefits of possible options for further reform.