IMF Research
External Balance Assessment (EBA): Data and Estimates from the Pilot Exercise
Last Updated: October 05, 2012
The IMF's Research Department is developing the External Balance Assessment (EBA) methodology as a successor to the CGER methodology for assessing current accounts and exchange rates. A pilot version of EBA was implemented earlier this year; the Pilot External Sector Report draws in part on the results of the EBA pilot, and includes a general overview of the EBA methods in its Appendix I. A technical background note provides an extended description of the pilot EBA methodology.
Details of the Pilot EBA exercise, including estimated results and supporting datasets and programs, are now available. This information is being shared in order to illustrate the application of a new methodology, with a view to encouraging comments and suggestions that would further develop its methods.
The information and estimates available here pertain to a pilot methodology and should not be considered as representing the assessments or views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or its staff. It is important to recognize that an IMF assessment of current account balances and real exchange rates would draw on a wider set of information and analysis than can be obtained from a single standardized methodology. Moreover, a number of caveats apply to the EBA data inputs. The Pilot EBA exercise drew on data and estimates that were available as of March 2012 (in preparation for the Spring 2012 WEO round), some of which may since have become outdated. Some data may have different definitions or coverage than IMF or IMF member country statistics, and some data definitions may not be fully comparable across countries. Finally, the numerical values used in the exercise to indicate desirable policy settings do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or its staff.
- Estimates from the Pilot EBA exercise
- Data inputs used in analysis of current accounts and real exchange rates