Press Release No. 14/316

Press Release: IMF Management and Staff Welcome the Independent Evaluation Office’s Report on Recurring Issues from Past Evaluations

July 1, 2014

The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) management and staff welcome the report “Recurring Issues from a Decade of Evaluation: Lessons for the IMF”, which was released today by the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) and provides an update of the progress made in addressing some of the most common issues that the IEO has identified in its past evaluations.

The IEO report focuses on recurring issues in five areas: organizational silos, attention to risks and uncertainty, country and institutional context, evenhandedness, and Executive Board guidance and oversight. The report finds that the IMF’s Executive Board and management have taken actions to address the issues in all five areas. At the same time, the report notes that challenges remain and are likely to persist, as the recurring issues are to varying degrees inherent to the nature of the IMF.

“I broadly agree with the findings of the report. Addressing the shortcomings identified in the report is a continuing task to which management and staff remain fully committed,” IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said.

“As the IEO rightly points out, some of the issues identified in the report are perennial, difficult to fully resolve, and intrinsically hard to measure. Notwithstanding these challenges, I am pleased that the evaluation found that considerable efforts have been made in addressing these issues and that progress is visible in several areas,” Ms. Lagarde said.

Ms. Lagarde pointed out that the IMF has taken many steps to break down organizational silos and improve interdepartmental coordination, and to strengthen the Fund’s risk management framework, including most recently though the establishment of a dedicated risk management unit. Ms. Lagarde also noted that “the Fund takes concerns about lack of evenhandedness (real or perceived) in surveillance or program design very seriously” and will continue to undertake periodic reviews of this issue, along with outreach to the public to preempt misperceptions.

See also the Managing Director’s Statement and the Executive Board discussion.