1. The Executive Board discussed the Fund's transparency policies on June 12, 2002 based on The Fund's Transparency Policy—Review of the Experience and Next Steps (EBS/02/90, 5/28/02, and Correction 1 and Supplement 1). It concluded those discussions on September 5, 2002. In the summing up (BUFF/02/141, 9/9/02), Directors requested a progress report for the Fall 2002 Annual Meetings, including in particular information on the publication rates of Article IV and Use of Fund Resources (UFR) staff reports by country and region. In response to this request, The Managing Director plans to attach this progress report to his written statement to the International Monetary and Financial Committee.

2. This report updates the May staff paper covering documents discussed during March 1-July 23, 2002, and published as of August 23, 2002. ² During this recent period, 366 documents were discussed and 279 published (Table 1). Although the total number of country documents discussed and published is large, seasonal and compositional factors make it difficult at this stage to make inferences about trends. During this recent period, 84 staff reports for Article IV consultations and UFR have been discussed and 51 such reports were published (61 percent). This compares with a publication rate of 59 percent (as of March 31, 2002) in the May staff paper. During this recent period, nine countries published their staff reports for the first time, ³ bringing the total number of members for whom staff reports have been published to 117
(Table 2).

3. The publication rate for stand-alone Article IV staff reports during this recent period was 68 percent, compared with 59 percent in the May staff paper. For combined Article IV-UFR staff reports, the publication rate was 64 percent, and for stand-alone UFR staff reports, the publication rate was 50 percent (Chart 1); the respective publication rates in the May staff paper were 63 percent and 56 percent.

4. On a regional basis, publication patterns for country staff reports during the most recent period were as follows (Table 3). Publication rates for Article IV and combined Article IV/UFR staff reports for advanced countries and for central and eastern Europe were each 100 percent. Publication rates for Middle East were 20 percent, while those for Asia and the Western Hemisphere were 33 percent; these publication rates were lower than reported previously (20 percent, 36 percent, and 66 percent, respectively). The publication rate for African countries rose to 69 percent (from 46 percent). For stand-alone UFR staff reports, all central and eastern European countries continue to publish; the publication rate for Asian countries remained high (83 percent); publication rates for CIS and Middle East countries were 50 percent; publication rates for African and Western Hemisphere countries were low (at 33 percent and 14 percent, respectively in the most recent period) (Table 4).

5. During the most recent period, 42 PINs were published (or 75 percent) (Table 1); the publication rate for PINs was 84 percent in the earlier period. Publication rates were high for all regions, except Asia (33 percent) and the Middle East (40 percent) (Table 3).

6. For letters of intent/memoranda of economic and financial policies, the publication rate was 91 percent (42 documents published out of 46 discussed), or essentially unchanged. Publication rates were uniformly high across regions (Table 4).

7. The publication rates during the most recent period do not alter substantially the cumulative rates reported in the May staff paper (Table 5). In particular, the publication rate for stand-alone Article IV staff reports during the period January 2001-August 2002 is now 61 percent against 59 percent reported in the May staff paper. For combined Article IV-UFR staff reports the cumulative rate is now 64 percent (from 63 percent). For stand-alone UFR staff reports, the cumulative publication rate moved from 56 percent to 54 percent. The cumulative publication rate for Article IV and combined Article IV/UFR staff reports for African countries has now risen to above 50 percent, while cumulative publication rates for Middle Eastern and Asian regions continue to be lower than in other regions (19 percent and 36 percent, respectively) (see Table 3). Cumulative publication rates for stand-alone UFR staff reports for central and eastern Europe, the CIS and Asian regions remain high (between 71-100 percent), well above the cumulative publication rates for other regions (around 30-40 percent) (Table 4).

8. With regard to the publication of country PINs, the cumulative rate is now 81 percent, compared with 84 percent reported in the May staff paper (Table 5). The publication rate for Financial Sector Stability Assessment (FSSA) reports was 86 percent during the recent period (compared with 50 percent reported in the May staff paper), while 76 percent of modules for Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSCs) were published during this period (about the same rate as reported in the May staff paper).

9. The cumulative publication rate for letters of intent/memoranda of economic and financial policies is now 93 percent (94 percent in the May staff paper), and each region's publication rate remains high (85 percent or higher) (Table 4).

10. During the recent period, deletions continue to be in line with the policy. Management has approved deletions from eight country documents during the recent period, of which one was for an advanced country. Out of the eight documents, references were deleted from three Article IV/combined Article IV-UFR staff reports, three stand-alone UFR staff reports, and two PINs. About half of the deleted references related to banking sector issues. During this recent period, no requests for deletions by third party countries were made, and no requests were made for deletions of performance criteria or structural benchmarks. Two requests for deletions for clearly stated political reasons were made, and these requests were not approved.

11. Corrections were issued for 54 percent of country staff reports published during the recent period, about the same rate as previously reported (53 percent). The slight majority of corrections are still made after Board meetings. The rate of corrections remains especially high for Enhanced Highly Indebted Poor Country Initiative staff reports, FSSA reports, and stand-alone Article IV staff reports (Table 1). The rate of corrections in country staff reports was highest for the Middle Eastern region, followed closely by advanced countries and central and eastern Europe. The number of corrections remains highest for advanced countries, but a notable increase in the number of corrections for central and eastern Europe took place. Overall, the cumulative rate of corrections is broadly unchanged relative to the information presented for the May staff paper.