Press Release No. 08/18

Press Release: IMF Releases Third Annual Report on the Implementation of the Transparency Policy

February 5, 2008

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) today released its annual report on Key Trends in the Implementation of the Transparency Policy, which provides factual information on publication rates by type of document, lags between Executive Board discussion and publication, recourse to deletions, and publication behavior of member countries.

The report shows little overall change in publication rates for country staff reports in the past year compared to 2005-06. Publication rates for some types of reports (e.g., country policy intention documents and reports on the observance of standards and codes), however, declined in 2007, but the overall publication rate of country reports remains high at 83 percent.

The Fund's transparency policy—which establishes the rules governing publication of documents—designates the publication status of most categories of Board documents as "voluntary but presumed," meaning that publication requires the member's explicit consent but is expected to take place within 30 days following the Board discussion.

This report responds to a request by the Executive Board in 2005 for regular updates of information on the implementation of the Fund's transparency policy, and features data on documents discussed by the Board between November 1, 2006 and October 31, 2007, and published by December 31, 2007. These documents include, in particular, staff reports on bilateral surveillance (Article IV consultations) and use of Fund resources, as well as country policy intention documents and IMF policy papers.