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Factsheets List Accurate and up-to-date information on the work of the IMF has been in high demand throughout the economic crisis. Our factsheets are a popular outreach tool, with over a million internet “visits” a year. The factsheets provide a web-friendly, plain-English explanation of the work of the IMF on the issues of most importance to our key stakeholders as well as to those developing an interest in our work. We welcome feedback on our factsheets. Comments should be sent to: exrpolicycom@imf.org. |
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| Factsheet -- Financing the Fund's Concessional Lending to Low-Income Countries To help strengthen its support for low-income countries, the IMF revamped its concessional lending facilities to make them more flexible and meet increasing demand for financial assistance from countries in need. These changes became effective in January 2010. In September 2012, the Fund adopted a strategy to support concessional lending of about SDR 1ÂĽ billion ($2.0 billion) a year on average over the longer term. This strategy is expected to be financed, in part, by the use of resources linked to gold sales. | May 10, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- The Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative The Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) provides for 100 percent relief on eligible debt from three multilateral institutions to a group of low-income countries. The initiative is intended to help them advance toward the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which are focused on halving poverty by 2015. | April 18, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- The IMF and the Millennium Development Goals The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a set of development targets agreed by the international community, which center on halving poverty and improving the welfare of the world’s poorest by 2015. The IMF contributes to this effort through its advice, technical assistance, and lending to countries, as well as its role in mobilizing donor support. Together with the World Bank, it assesses progress toward the MDGs through an annual Global Monitoring Report. | April 17, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- IMF Regional Training Centers Around The World The IMF offers hands-on, policy-oriented training in economics, finance, and related operational fields for country officials of member countries. The IMF's training program aims to strengthen the ability of country officials to analyze economic developments and thereby improve the formulation and implementation of effective policies and the quality of the country's policy dialogue with the IMF. In addition to training in Washington, D.C., the IMF offers courses at seven regional training centers around the world. | April 15, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- Technical Assistance IMF technical assistance supports the development of the productive resources of member countries by helping them to effectively manage their economic policy and financial affairs. The IMF helps countries to strengthen their capacity in both human and institutional resources, and to design appropriate macroeconomic, financial, and structural policies. | April 15, 2013 |
| Factsheet - IMF Regional Technical Assistance Training Centers Eight regional technical assistance centers in the Pacific, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, and Central America help countries strengthen human and institutional capacity to design and implement policies that promote growth and reduce poverty. Work is progressing on establishing another regional center in Africa. | April 15, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- The IMF's Role in Helping Protect the Most Vulnerable in the Global Crisis In this difficult environment, the IMF is helping governments to protect and even increase social spending, including social assistance. In particular, the IMF is promoting measures to increase spending on, and improve the targeting of, social safety net programs that can mitigate the impact of the crisis on the most vulnerable in society. Below are some examples of how IMF-supported programs seek to protect social spending in a way that is both fiscally sustainable and cost-effective. | April 12, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- IMF Support for Low-Income Countries In 2009, the IMF upgraded its support for low-income countries, reflecting the changing nature of economic conditions in these countries and their increased vulnerabilities due to the effects of the global economic crisis. It has overhauled its lending instruments, especially to address more directly countries' needs for short-term and emergency support. Concessional lending commitments were close to $10 billion in the period 2009–12. Zero interest will be charged on all concessional lending through end-2014. The Fund has adopted a strategy to support concessional lending of about $2.0 billion a year over the longer term, which is expected to be financed, in part, by the distribution of gold sales profits. | April 12, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- Where the IMF Gets Its Money Most resources for IMF loans are provided by member countries, primarily through their payment of quotas. Multilateral and bilateral borrowing arrangements provide a further backstop to IMF resources. In March 2011, the expanded and more flexible New Arrangements to Borrow (NAB) came into effect and was activated shortly thereafter. In addition, the Fund has signed a number of bilateral loan and note purchase agreements, which can be used to finance IMF-supported programs approved prior to the NAB activation. In the context of continued global financial instability, the Fund and creditor members are currently negotiating a 2012 round of bilateral loan and note purchase agreements to backstop quota and expanded NAB resources. Concessional lending and debt relief for low-income countries are financed through separate contribution-based trust funds. | April 12, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- Climate, Environment, and the IMF Stabilizing global atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases will require a radical transformation of the global energy system over coming decades. Fiscal instruments (carbon taxes or similar) are the most effective way to ensure that environmental costs are reflected in energy prices and promote the development of cleaner technologies. They also have an important role to play in addressing other major environmental challenges, like premature mortality caused by poor air quality. | April 12, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- IMF Standby Credit Facility The Standby Credit Facility (SCF) provides financial assistance to low-income countries (LICs) with short-term balance of payments needs. The SCF was created under the newly established Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) as part of a broader reform to make the Fund's financial support more flexible and better tailored to the diverse needs of LICs, including in times of crisis. The SCF replaces the High-Access Component of the Exogenous Shocks Facility. It provides support under a wider range of circumstances, allows for higher access, carries a lower interest rate, can be used on a precautionary basis, and places greater emphasis on the country's poverty reduction and growth objectives. | April 11, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- IMF Rapid Credit Facility The Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) provides rapid financial assistance with limited conditionality to low-income countries (LICs) facing an urgent balance of payments need. The RCF was created under the newly established Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) as part of a broader reform to make the Fund's financial support more flexible and better tailored to the diverse needs of LICs, including in times of crisis. The RCF streamlines the Fund's emergency assistance, provides significantly higher levels of concessionality, can be used flexibly in a wide range of circumstances, and places greater emphasis on the country's poverty reduction and growth objectives. | April 11, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- The Policy Support Instrument The Policy Support Instrument (PSI) supports low-income countries that do not want—or need—Fund financial assistance but seek to consolidate their economic performance with IMF monitoring and support. This non-financial instrument is a valuable complement to the IMF's lending facilities under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust. The PSI helps countries design effective economic programs that, once approved by the IMF's Executive Board, delivers clear signals to donors, multilateral development banks, and markets of the Fund's endorsement of the strength of a member's policies. | April 11, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- IMF Standing Borrowing Arrangements While quota subscriptions of member countries are the IMF's main source of financing, the Fund can supplement its quota resources through borrowing if it believes that they might fall short of members' needs. Through the New Arrangements to Borrow (NAB), the IMF's main backstop for quota resources, a number of member countries and institutions stand ready to lend additional resources to the IMF. | April 11, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- IMF Extended Credit Facility The Extended Credit Facility (ECF) provides financial assistance to countries with protracted balance of payments problems. The ECF was created under the newly established Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) as part of a broader reform to make the Fund's financial support more flexible and better tailored to the diverse needs of Low Income Countries (LICs), including in times of crisis. The ECF succeeds the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) as the Fund's main tool for providing medium-term support to LICs, with higher levels of access to financial resources, more concessional financing terms, more flexible program design features, as well as streamlined and more focused conditionality. | April 11, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- How the IMF Makes Decisions? The IMF is undertaking sweeping reforms of its governance structure to reflect fundamental changes in the world economy that have taken place over the past generation. The IMF has evolved along with the global economy throughout its 67-year history, allowing the organization to retain a central role within the international financial architecture. Unlike the General Assembly of the United Nations, where each country has one vote, decision making at the IMF was designed to reflect the relative positions of its member countries in the global economy. The current reforms are intended to reflect the larger role that emerging market and developing economies now play in the global economy. | April 10, 2013 |
| Factsheet - The 2012 Annual Meetings The Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group each year bring together central bankers, ministers of finance and development, private sector executives, civil society, and academics to discuss issues of global concern, including the world economic outlook, global financial stability, poverty eradication, jobs and growth, economic development, and aid effectiveness. The Meetings, which are widely covered by the international media, also offer an opportunity for civil society organizations to share their views and interact with policymakers in a global setting. | April 10, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- Post-Program Monitoring When a member country borrows money from the IMF, its policies come under closer scrutiny. Once a country has completed its lending program, it may enter into a process known as Post-Program Monitoring (PPM). This process is intended for all member countries that have substantial IMF credit outstanding following the expiration of their programs. The enhanced monitoring is intended to ensure the continued viability of a country's economic framework and provide early warning of policies that could jeopardize the country's external viability and, hence, its capacity to repay the IMF. Should it become necessary, IMF staff will advise on policy actions to correct macroeconomic imbalances. | April 09, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- The IMF and Europe The IMF is actively engaged in Europe as a provider of policy advice, financing, and technical assistance. We work both independently and, in European Union (EU) countries, in cooperation with European institutions, such as the European Commission (EC) and the European Central Bank (ECB). The IMF's work in Europe has intensified since the start of the global financial crisis in 2008, and has been further stepped up since mid-2010 as a result of the euro area crisis. | April 09, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- Transparency at the IMF Transparency in economic policy and access to reliable data on economic and financial developments is critical for sound decision-making and for the smooth functioning of an economy. The IMF has policies in place to ensure that meaningful and timely information—both about its own role in the global economy and the economies of its member countries—is provided in real time to its global audiences. | April 08, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- The IMF and Legislators The IMF conducts outreach to legislators in its member countries in order to learn more about their views and concerns, explain Fund policy advice, and discuss policy trade-offs. This ongoing dialogue contributes to greater transparency, ownership, and accountability of economic policy choices. The legislative branch of government is essential to economic policy-making in most countries. Legislatures approve budgets and pass tax, banking, and trade laws. They oversee their government's economic policies, and provide forums for public information and debate. | April 08, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- The IMF's Post-Catastrophe Debt Relief Trust Following the devastating earthquake in Haiti in January 2010, the IMF established a Post-Catastrophe Debt Relief (PCDR) Trust that allows the Fund to join international debt relief efforts for very poor countries that are hit by the most catastrophic of natural disasters. Such debt relief is intended to free up additional resources to meet exceptional balance of payments needs created by the disaster and the recovery, complementing fresh donor financing and the Fund’s concessional liquidity support. | April 04, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- A Guide To Committees, Groups, And Clubs Political leaders and officials from around the world shape the work of the IMF through their various fora and bodies. With the IMF at the center of the coordinated global response to events in international financial markets and the world's economies, understanding what these groups do and how they work is important. | April 04, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- The IMF's Precautionary and Liquidity Line (PLL) The global economic crisis highlighted the need for effective global financial safety nets to help countries cope with adverse shocks. A key objective of recent lending reforms was to complement the traditional crisis resolution role of the IMF with more effective tools for crisis prevention. The Precautionary and Liquidity Line (PLL)—which replaces the Precautionary Credit Line (PCL)—is designed to meet flexibly the liquidity needs of member countries with sound economic fundamentals but with some remaining vulnerabilities that preclude them from using the Flexible Credit Line (FCL). | April 03, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- The IMF's Flexible Credit Line (FCL) The global economic and financial crisis highlighted the need for effective global financial safety nets to help countries cope with adverse shocks. Even before the crisis emerged, the IMF was in the process of reforming how it lends money to countries that find themselves in a cash crunch. The idea was to create different kinds of facilities for the very different needs of our 188 member countries. The Flexible Credit Line (FCL) was designed to meet the increased demand for crisis-prevention and crisis-mitigation lending from countries with very strong policy frameworks and track records in economic performance. To date, three countries, Poland, Mexico and Colombia, have accessed the FCL: due in part to the favorable market reaction, all three countries have so far not drawn FCL resources. | April 03, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- IMF Crisis Lending Economic and financial crises can take many forms. The IMF assists countries hit by crises by providing them with financial support to create breathing room as they implement corrective policies to restore economic stability and growth. As the global financial landscape has been transformed in recent years, the IMF's lending instruments have evolved to meet changing needs in both emerging and low-income countries. | April 03, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- The IMF and Civil Society Organizations Civil society organizations (CSOs) are now more vocal than in the past. They are experts in economic issues and their influence expands to parliaments and governments. Whether national, regional, or international, the way CSOs do business has been profoundly affected by globalization. CSOs increasingly employ extensive networks to pursue their activities and to try to influence policies on a broad range of issues. Many CSOs focus on economic matters at the core of the work of the IMF and other international organizations. The IMF is committed to being transparent about its work, to explaining itself, to listening to the people whom it affects, and it engages with CSOs through information sharing, dialogue, and consultation at both global and national levels. | April 03, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- IMF Lending A core responsibility of the IMF is to provide loans to member countries experiencing balance of payments problems. This financial assistance enables countries to rebuild their international reserves, stabilize their currencies, continue paying for imports, and restore conditions for strong economic growth, while undertaking policies to correct underlying problems. Unlike development banks, the IMF does not lend for specific projects. | April 02, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- Debt Relief Under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative The Joint IMF-World Bank's comprehensive approach to debt reduction is designed to ensure that no poor country faces a debt burden it cannot manage. To date, debt reduction packages under the HIPC Initiative have been approved for 36 countries, 30 of them in Africa, providing US$75 billion in debt-service relief over time. Three additional countries are eligible for HIPC Initiative assistance. | April 02, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- The Exogenous Shocks Facility- High Access Component (ESF-HAC) | April 02, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- The IMF's Extended Fund Facility (EFF) When a country faces serious medium-term balance of payments problems because of structural weaknesses that require time to address, the IMF can assist with the adjustment process under an Extended Fund Facility (EFF). Compared to assistance provided under the Stand-by Arrangement, assistance under an extended arrangement features longer program engagement—to help countries implement medium-term structural reforms—and a longer repayment period. | April 02, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- IMF Conditionality When a country borrows from the IMF, its government agrees to adjust its economic policies to overcome the problems that led it to seek financial aid from the international community. These loan conditions also serve to ensure that the country will be able to repay the Fund so that the resources can be made available to other members in need. In recent years, the IMF has streamlined conditionality in order to promote national ownership of strong and effective policies. | April 02, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- IMF Quotas Quota subscriptions generate most of the IMF's financial resources. Each member country of the IMF is assigned a quota, based broadly on its relative position in the world economy. A member country's quota determines its maximum financial commitment to the IMF, its voting power, and has a bearing on its access to IMF financing. | March 31, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- Gold in the IMF Gold played a central role in the international monetary system until the collapse of the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates in 1973. Since then, the role of gold has been gradually reduced. But it is still an important asset in the reserve holdings of a number of countries, and the IMF remains one of the world's largest official holders of gold. Consistent with the new income model for the Fund agreed in April 2008, strictly limited gold sales of 403.3 metric tons were used to establish an endowment. Resources linked to these gold sales have also been used to boost the IMF’s concessional lending capacity to eligible low-income countries (LICs). | March 31, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- The IMF and the Fight Against Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism Money laundering and the financing of terrorism are financial crimes with economic effects. They can threaten the stability of a country's financial sector or its external stability more generally. Effective anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism regimes are essential to protect the integrity of markets and of the global financial framework as they help mitigate the factors that facilitate financial abuse. Action to prevent and combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism thus responds not only to a moral imperative, but also to an economic need. | March 31, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- IMF Surveillance The IMF is mandated to oversee the international monetary system and monitor the economic and financial policies of its member countries. This activity is known as surveillance. As part of this process, which takes place both at the global level and in individual countries, the IMF highlights possible risks to stability and advises on needed policy adjustments. In this way, it helps the international monetary system serve its essential purpose of facilitating the exchange of goods, services, and capital among countries, thereby sustaining sound economic growth. | March 30, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- IMF Stand-By Arrangement In an economic crisis, countries often need financing to help them overcome their balance of payments problems. Since its creation in June 1952, the IMF's Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) has been used time and again by member countries, it is the IMF's workhorse lending instrument for emerging and advanced market countries. Rates are non-concessional, although they are almost always lower than what countries would pay to raise financing from private markets. The SBA was upgraded in 2009 to be more flexible and responsive to member countries' needs. Borrowing limits were doubled with more funds available up front, and conditions were streamlined and simplified. The new framework also enables broader high-access borrowing on a precautionary basis. | March 30, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- Managing Director Selection Process The IMF's Managing Director is both Chairperson of the IMF's Executive Board and Head of IMF staff. The Managing Director is assisted by three Deputy Managing Directors. He or she is appointed by the Executive Board for a renewable term of five years. Although the Executive Board may select a Managing Director by a majority of votes cast, the Board has in the past made such appointments by consensus. | March 30, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- The IMF and the World Trade Organization The IMF and the WTO are international organizations with nearly 150 members in common. While the IMF's central focus is on the international monetary and financial system, and the WTO's is on the international trading system, both work together to ensure a sound system for global trade and payments. | March 30, 2013 |
| Factsheet - How the IMF Promotes Global Economic Stability The IMF advises member countries in implementing economic and financial policies that promote stability, reduce vulnerability to crisis, and encourage sustained growth and high living standards. It also reviews global economic trends and developments that affect the health of the international monetary and financial system and promotes dialogue among member countries on the regional and international consequences of their economic and financial policies. The IMF now publishes the bulk of its analyses. In addition to these activities, called "surveillance", the IMF provides technical assistance to help strengthen members' institutional capacity, and makes resources available to them to facilitate adjustment in the event of a balance of payments crisis. | March 30, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) The SDR is an international reserve asset, created by the IMF in 1969 to supplement its member countries' official reserves. Its value is based on a basket of four key international currencies, and SDRs can be exchanged for freely usable currencies. With a general SDR allocation that took effect on August 28 and a special allocation on September 9, 2009, the amount of SDRs increased from SDR 21.4 billion to around SDR 204 billion (equivalent to about $310 billion, converted using the rate of August 20, 2012). | March 29, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) Successful plans to fight poverty require country ownership and broad based support from the public in order to succeed. A PRSP describes the macroeconomic, structural, and social policies and programs that a country will pursue over several years to promote growth and reduce poverty, as well as external financing needs and the associated sources of financing. They are prepared by governments in low-income countries through a participatory process involving domestic stakeholders and external development partners, including the IMF and the World Bank. | March 29, 2013 |
| Factsheet: The Joint World Bank-IMF Debt Sustainability Framework for Low-Income Countries Low-income countries have often struggled with large external debts. Debt burdens have been reduced, thanks in large part to international debt relief initiatives. As part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the IMF and the World Bank have developed a framework to help guide countries and donors in mobilizing the financing of low-income countries' development needs, while reducing the chances of an excessive build-up of debt in the future. The joint World Bank–International Monetary Fund (IMF) Debt Sustainability Framework (DSF) was introduced in April 2005, and is periodically reviewed, to address this challenge. The most recent review was discussed by the Executive Boards of the International Development Association and the IMF in February 2012. | March 29, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- The IMF at a Glance The International Monetary Fund (IMF) works to foster international monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world. Created in 1945, the IMF is governed by and accountable to the 188 countries that make up its near-global membership. | March 29, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- How Does the IMF Encourage Greater Fiscal Transparency? Fiscal transparency entails being open to the public about the government’s past, present, and future fiscal activities, and about the structure and functions of government that determine fiscal policies and outcomes. Such transparency fosters better-informed public debate, as well as greater government accountability and credibility. The IMF has developed a Code of Good Practices on Fiscal Transparency, a Manual on Fiscal Transparency, and a “Guide on Resource Revenue Transparency to encourage greater fiscal transparency. Country reports are available at the IMF fiscal transparency web page. | March 29, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- IMF’s Response to the Global Economic Crisis Since the onset of the global economic crisis in 2007, the IMF has mobilized on many fronts to support its 188 member countries. It increased and deployed its lending firepower, used its cross-country experience to offer policy solutions, and introduced reforms that made it better equipped to respond to countries' needs. | March 29, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- Asia and the IMF As Asia grows in economic importance, relations between it and the IMF are also being revitalized. Both the Fund and the countries of the region have drawn lessons from past experience and are forging a partnership that will build on the region’s economic success and resilience. | March 29, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- The IMF's Trade Integration Mechanism (TIM) The Trade Integration Mechanism (TIM) was introduced in April 2004 to assist member countries to meet balance of payments shortfalls that might result from trade liberalization measures implemented by other countries. The TIM is not a special lending facility, but rather a policy designed to make resources more predictably available under existing IMF lending facilities. | March 26, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- Reforms to IMF Surveillance since the Financial Crisis In the wake of the 2011 Triennial Surveillance Review (TSR), the IMF has undertaken major initiatives to strengthen surveillance to respond to a more globalized and interconnected world. These initiatives include revamping the legal framework for surveillance, deepening analysis of risks and financial systems, stepping up assessments of members' external positions, and responding more promptly to concerns of the membership. This factsheet outlines recent actions in these key areas. | March 26, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- Standards and Codes: The Role of the IMF Standards and codes are benchmarks of good practices. The IMF and the World Bank have recognized international standards in 12 policy areas related to their work. In assessing countries observance of these standards, and helping them to implement reforms where needed, the IMF and World Bank aim to increase economic and financial stability by strengthening domestic economic and financial institutions. | March 20, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- The IMF's Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) The Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) provides rapid financial assistance to all member countries facing an urgent balance of payments need. The RFI was created as part of a broader reform to make the IMF's financial support more flexible to address the diverse needs of member countries. The RFI has replaced the IMF's previous emergency assistance policy and can be used in a wide range of circumstances. | March 20, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- The G-20 Mutual Assessment Process (MAP) Leaders of the Group of Twentyindustrialized and emerging market economies (G20) pledged at their2009 Pittsburgh Summit to work together to ensure a lasting recovery and strong and sustainable growth over the medium term. To meet this goal, they launched the Framework for Strong, Sustainable, and Balanced Growth. The backbone of this framework is a multilateral process through which G20countries identify objectives for the global economy, the policies needed to reach them, and the progress toward meeting these shared objectives—the so-called Mutual Assessment Process (MAP). On the request of the G20, the IMF provides technical analysis to evaluate key imbalances and how members' policies fit together—and whether, collectively, they can achieve the G20's goals. This factsheet focuses on the key procedural steps of the MAP. | March 20, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- IMF-FSB Early Warning Exercise One of the lessons of the current crisis is the need for better analysis of the underlying risks to the global economy, including plausible worst case scenarios. In April 2009, officials called on the IMF to improve its analysis of systemic risks, including through linkages between the financial sector and the real economy, and cross-border spillovers. They mandated the IMF and the Financial Stability Board (FSB) to collaborate in conducting Early Warning Exercises (EWE). The EWE is designed to strengthen assessments of low probability but high impact risks to the global outlook, and identify policy options to mitigate them. It seeks to integrate macroeconomic and financial perspectives on systemic risks, drawing on a range of quantitative tools and broad-based consultations. | March 20, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- The IMF and Good Governance The IMF places great emphasis on promoting good governance when providing policy advice, financial support, and technical assistance to its member countries. The IMF also has strong measures in place to ensure integrity, impartiality, and honesty in the discharge of its own professional obligations. | March 19, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- Financial System Soundness Weak financial institutions, inadequate regulation and supervision, and lack of transparency were at the heart of the financial crises of the late 1990s as well as the recent global financial crisis. The recent crisis also highlighted the importance of effective systemic risk monitoring and management. This is why the IMF has stepped up efforts to help countries implement policies to support sound financial systems. | March 19, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- Integrated Surveillance Decision On July 18, 2012, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) adopted a new Decision on Bilateral and Multilateral Surveillance, also known as the Integrated Surveillance Decision (ISD). The ISD took effect on January 18, 2013. The ISD provides guidance to the Fund and member countries on their roles and responsibilities in surveillance. The adoption of the ISD is part of a broader effort to ensure that surveillance remains relevant and effective amidst the changing global economic landscape. | March 15, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- The Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) The recent global crisis has shown that the health of a country’s financial sector has far reaching implications for its economy as well as for other economies. The Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP), established in 1999, is a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of a country’s financial sector. FSAP assessments are the joint responsibility of the IMF and World Bank in developing and emerging market countries and of the Fund alone in advanced economies, and include two major components: a financial stability assessment, which is the responsibility of the Fund and, in developing and emerging market countries, a financial development assessment, the responsibility of the World Bank. To date, more than three-quarters of the member countries have undergone assessments. | March 15, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- Protecting IMF Resources: Safeguards Assessments of Central Banks When the IMF provides a loan to a country, a due diligence exercise is carried out to obtain assurances that the country's central bank receiving IMF resources is able to adequately manage the funds, and provide reliable information. Experience with these | March 14, 2013 |
| Factsheet - Transparency in Monetary and Financial Policies Monetary and financial policies can be more effective if their objectives, rationale, and methods of implementation are communicated to the public in a clear and timely manner. Such transparency by central banks and financial agencies responsible for the supervision and regulation of financial institutions and markets can also foster more informed market expectations and greater public accountability. The IMF has developed a | March 14, 2013 |
| Factsheet - The IMF and the World Bank The IMF and the World Bank are institutions in the United Nations system. They share the same goal of raising living standards in their member countries. Their approaches to this goal are complementary, with the IMF focusing on macroeconomic issues and the World Bank concentrating on long-term economic development and poverty reduction. | March 14, 2013 |
| Factsheet - IMF Standards for Data Dissemination The IMF has taken several important steps to enhance transparency and openness, including setting voluntary standards for the dissemination of economic and financial data. The Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) was established in 1996 to guide members that have, or that might seek, access to international capital markets in the provision of their economic and financial data to the public. The General Data Dissemination System (GDDS) was established in 1997 for member countries with less developed statistical systems as a framework for evaluating their needs for data improvement and setting priorities. In 2012, the SDDS Plus was created as an upper tier of the IMF's Data Standards Initiatives to help address data gaps identified during the global financial crisis. Today over 90 percent of the IMF's member countries participate in the GDDS or SDDS. | March 14, 2013 |
| Factsheet -- The IMF's Advice on Labor Market Issues The IMF's Articles of Agreement commit the institution to the promotion and maintenance of high levels of employment and real income. This commitment has been reaffirmed over the years, with IMF management often stressing the importance of employment for social cohesion. In the wake of the global economic crisis, unemployment has been rising sharply in many countries, heightening the need to create conditions for job creation and inclusive growth. | February 08, 2013 |
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