Revision of the Fifth Edition of the IMF's Balance of Payments Manual: Technical Expert Groups

At its meeting in December 2003, the IMF Committee on Balance of Payments Statistics (Committee) discussed, among other things, the revision to the fifth edition of the Balance of Payments Manual (BPM5). In addition to reviewing the IMF's proposals, contained in the annotated outline, the Committee agreed to the creation of four technical expert groups (TEGs):

Direct Investment Technical Expert Group (DITEG)

Currency Unions Technical Expert Group (CUTEG)

Balance of Payments Technical Expert Group (BOPTEG) for the issues in balance of payments and international investment position statistics not covered by the other groups.

Also, at its meeting in June-July 2005, the Committee agreed to create another TEG on reserve assets, i.e., Reserve Assets Technical Expert Group (RESTEG).

DITEG is jointly chaired by the IMF and the OECD; the other three TEGs are chaired by the IMF. DITEG reports to both the OECD Workshop on International Investment Statistics (WIIS) and to the Committee.

The remits of these TEGs are to provide technical input on a variety of issues, as appropriate for the subject of each particular group. It is expected that the CUTEG and the BOPTEG will meet approximately every six months, from June 2004, with the expectation that they will have finished their work in 2006 or 2007. It is expected that DITEG will have a shorter life: due to the timetable for a feasibility study on an internationally coordinated survey of foreign direct investment, it is expected that it will finish its work by March 2005, and that it will meet three times, in June and December, 2004, and in March 2005. It is, however, possible that DITEG will not have considered all the issues by that time and that it may have additional issues to address after that date. It is expected that RESTEG will have initial life up to September 2007 but this can be extended if additional work on the specific international reserves issues are required after September 2007. RESTEG is expected to work primarily through electronic means, although a meeting could be held if necessary.

The web pages for each of the four TEGs set out the lists of issues that the Committee decided, at its December 2003 and June-July 2005 meetings, should be considered by each group. In the case of the DITEG, the OECD's WIIS was also asked whether there were additional issues that it wished the expert group to consider and, as a result, a consolidated issues list was prepared. Additional issues have also been included for CUTEG following consultation within the expert group. Additional issues may be added for all TEGs on the basis of suggestions from members of the expert groups and country comments on the Annotated Outline. Once the TEGs have considered the issues, they will make recommendations—to the Committee, in the case of the BOPTEG, the CUTEG, and the RESTEG and to both the WIIS and the Committee, in the case of the DITEG. Should the TEGs be unable to reach resolution on any issue, they will report back to the Committee (or the WIIS and the Committee in the case of the DITEG), setting out the pros and cons of the arguments.