## Assumptions and Conventions

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**Canonical URL:** [Assumptions and Conventions](https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/reo/mcd-cca/2017/october/menap/2-assumptions-and-conventions.pdf)

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### Projections: working assumptions
- Established policies of national authorities are assumed to be maintained.
- Oil price assumptions:
  - It has been assumed that the price of oil will average US$50.28 a barrel in 2017 and US$50.17 a barrel in 2018.
  - Footnote: Simple average of prices of UK Brent, Dubai Fateh, and West Texas Intermediate crude oil.
- Interest rate assumption:
  - The six-month London interbank offered rate (LIBOR) on U.S.-dollar deposits will average 1.4 percent in 2017 and 1.9 percent in 2018.
- Nature of projections:
  - These are working hypotheses rather than forecasts, and the uncertainties surrounding them add to the margin of error.
  - The 2017 and 2018 data in the figures and tables are projections.
  - Projections are based on statistical information available through early September 2017.

### Conventions used in the publication
- In tables:
  - Ellipsis points (. . .) indicate “not available.”
  - 0 or 0.0 indicates “zero” or “negligible.”
- Minor discrepancies between sums of constituent figures and totals are due to rounding.
- Date and period notation:
  - An en dash (–) between years or months (for example, 2011–12 or January–June) indicates the years or months covered, including the beginning and ending years or months.
  - A slash or virgule (/) between years or months (for example, 2011/12) indicates a fiscal or financial year, as does the abbreviation FY (for example, FY 2012).
- Large number definitions:
  - “Billion” means a thousand million.
  - “Trillion” means a thousand billion.
- Interest rate notation:
  - “Basis points (bps)” refer to hundredths of 1 percentage point (for example, 25 basis points are equivalent to ¼ of 1 percentage point).

### Terminology and map conventions
- Use of the term “country”:
  - As used in this publication, the term “country” does not in all cases refer to a territorial entity that is a state as understood by international law and practice.
  - The term also covers some territorial entities that are not states but for which statistical data are maintained on a separate and independent basis.
- Maps:
  - The boundaries, colors, denominations, and any other information shown on the maps do not imply, on the part of the International Monetary Fund, any judgment on the legal status of any territory or any endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries.

*Source: Assumptions and Conventions (chapter content).*

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/reo/mcd-cca/2017/october/menap/2-assumptions-and-conventions.pdf_