Press Release No. 07/21

Press Release: IMF Publishes Second Annual Report on the Implementation of the Transparency Policy

February 6, 2007

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) today released its second annual report on Key Trends in the Implementation of the Transparency Policy, which provides factual information on publication rates by type of document, lags between Executive Board discussion and publication, recourse to deletion, and publication behavior of member countries.

The report responds to a request by the Executive Board in 2005 for regular updates of information on the implementation of the Fund's transparency policy (see Public Information Notice No. 05/116), and features data on documents considered by the Board between November 1, 2005 and October 31, 2006, and published by December 31, 2006. These documents include staff reports on bilateral surveillance (Article IV Consultations) and the use of Fund resources (UFR), as well as Country Policy Intention documents and IMF policy papers. The first such report was published in February 2006 (see Press Release No. 06/27).

Publication of Article IV Consultation and UFR reports rose for the third year in a row, increasing from 82% in 2005 to 85% in 2006, according to the report. The total number of member countries that published all Article IV Consultation and UFR reports during 2006 reached 142, up from 136 countries in 2005. In addition, members published 82% of Financial System Stability Assessments, and the publication rates of Country Policy Intention documents and PINs also increased, both to 94%.