## Implementation Plan in Response to Board-Endorsed Recommendations Arising from the IEO Evaluation of IMF Involvement in International Trade Policy Issues ## Source details **Canonical URL:** [Implementation Plan in Response to Board-Endorsed Recommendations Arising from the IEO Evaluation of IMF Involvement in International Trade Policy Issues](https://www.imf.org/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/np/pp/eng/2009/_111209.pdf) ## Other formats - [Markdown version](/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/np/pp/eng/2009/_111209.pdf.md) - [Structured JSON version](/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/np/pp/eng/2009/_111209.pdf.json) --- ### I. Overview and Context - Purpose: Fulfil requirement of a forward-looking implementation plan for Board-endorsed recommendations of the IEO Evaluation of IMF Involvement in International Trade Policy Issues. - Management approval: Prepared by the Strategy, Policy, and Review Department; Approved by Reza Moghadam; November 12, 2009. - Resource approach: Implementation to be carried out within the existing resource envelope; additional costs described as modest and partially a redirection of current trade policy staff work. - Timeframe for periodic reviews: Five-year cycle for reviews of Fund work on trade, taking the IEO Evaluation as the starting point with the first five-yearly review expected in 2014. ### II. Reviews of the Fund’s Work on Trade and Guidance to Staff - Findings and Board stance: - Need for periodic Board re-evaluation of guidance on objectives, approaches, and modalities of staff work on trade policies. - Board suggested reviews at five-year intervals. - Directors advised guidance on trade in financial services and on PTAs (preferable where spillovers or significant macroeconomic effects exist). - Proposed follow-up actions: - A1. Five-yearly reviews of Fund work on trade policy will be conducted; first expected in 2014. - A2. Staff guidance on trade in financial services and PTAs to be developed and issued to the Board for information by July 2010. - Content and implementation of guidance to be considered again in the 2014 Board reviews. ### III. Trade Policy in Fund-Supported Programs - Findings and Board stance: - Most Directors welcomed scaling back of trade policy conditionality; conditionality should remain macro-critical and country-specific. - Emphasis on avoiding resort to trade-restricting measures during Fund-supported programs; promote trade liberalization where necessary for program objectives. - Proposed follow-up actions: - B1. Update and revise relevant general guidance notes, in particular the 1999 "Guidelines on Implementing Trade Policy Reforms" by July 2010. - Guidance to clearly distinguish Board-endorsed guidance from best practices and other information. - All guidance notes to be issued to the Executive Board for information upon completion and covered in five-yearly Executive Board reviews. ### IV. Multilateral, Regional, and Bilateral Surveillance - Findings and Board stance: - Trade policy—particularly involving PTAs—should be addressed periodically in multilateral and regional surveillance vehicles (WEO, REOs, GFSR). - Surveillance should discuss macro-critical trade policy issues for all countries and ensure evenhandedness in trade policy advice. - Scope for greater attention to global effects of trade policies in systemically important countries. - Proposed follow-up actions: - C1. Cover relevant trade-related topics in standalone papers and via collaboration between trade policy staff and departments responsible for the WEO, REOs, and GFSR as appropriate. - Incorporate Executive Board guidance on macro-critical trade policy issues and evenhandedness into general trade policy guidance notes and emphasize applicability to bilateral surveillance. ### V. Staffing-Related Issues - Findings and Board stance: - IEO recommended building a small but "critical mass" of trade policy expertise and argued for a division solely devoted to trade issues. - Directors agreed on need for critical mass but most did not support re-introducing a separate Trade Policy Division; left to management. - Proposed follow-up actions: - D1. Attract and develop trade policy expertise while balancing requirement for economists to work on macroeconomic issues and in country teams. - Maintain trade policy expertise in a division with broader responsibilities to facilitate integration into broader Fund work and career paths. ### VI. Trade Policy Information - Findings and Board stance: - Need for up-to-date summary trade policy information on goods trade, PTAs, and financial services; encourage reliance on WTO and World Bank data while exploring efficient internal dissemination approaches. - Proposed follow-up actions: - E1. Prepare a guidance note for Fund staff on availability and use of tariff and other trade policy information from existing databases by July 2010. - E2. Explore possibilities for enhanced information sharing with the WTO Secretariat, World Bank staff, and other interlocutors; engage actively with WTO and others on ongoing trade policy monitoring exercises. ### VII. Institutional Cooperation - Findings and Board stance: - Benefits from close cooperation with WTO and World Bank for policy coherence and efficiency of staff work; institutional cooperation has evolved and should be strengthened. - IEO recommended regular formal meetings among senior staff of key international organizations, reporting back to relevant IMF bodies. - Directors saw value in occasional focused meetings, possibly at staff levels, to set agendas and follow up practical issues. - Proposed follow-up actions: - F1. Continue occasional meetings on trade among senior staff of the IMF, World Bank, WTO, and possibly other multilateral economic institutions; focus interactions on issues relevant to the Fund and current Fund concerns shared with partner institutions. - Whenever possible, organize such meetings on the margins of other international meetings. ### VIII. Implementation Table Highlights (selected actions and dates) - Five-yearly Board reviews: first expected in 2014. - Staff guidance on trade in financial services and PTAs: issued to the Board for information by July 2010 (A2). - Update/revise 1999 "Guidelines on Implementing Trade Policy Reforms": by July 2010 (B1). - Guidance note on tariff and trade policy information: by July 2010 (E1). *Prepared by the Strategy, Policy, and Review Department; Approved by Reza Moghadam; November 12, 2009.* --- _Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/np/pp/eng/2009/_111209.pdf_