Independent of Fund management and staff, the IEO operates at arm's-length from the Fund's Executive Board. Its structure and operations protect its operational independence—both actual and perceived.

IEO's primary means of action is the conduct of independent studies of issues relevant to the mandate of the IMF:

• Systematic evaluations of the IMF's general policies.

• Comparative cross-country analyses of the IMF's economic policy advice, both in the context of surveillance and in the context of IMF-supported programs.

• Evaluations of completed country operations.

The IEO's evaluations will have the added advantage of the unique institutional leverage with which it has been endowed:

• Through its unrestricted access to all IMF documents and its ability to hire part of its staff from the IMF, the IEO has the familiarity with IMF operations.

• Being a permanent unit liaising with IMF's Executive Board, the IEO has the ability to assist the Board in monitoring the implementation of the recommendations in IEO's studies endorsed by the Executive Board.

The Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) has been established to systematically conduct objective and independent evaluations on issues relevant to the mandate of the Fund. It complements the review and evaluation work within the Fund. It thus improves the Fund's ability to draw lessons from its experience and more quickly integrate improvements into its future work.