## Fourth Periodic Monitoring Report on the Status of Implementation Plans in Response to Board-Endorsed IEO Recommendations (_031111a)

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---

### Overview
- Purpose: Periodic Monitoring Reports (PMRs) update the status on Management Implementation Plans (MIPs) in response to IEO recommendations endorsed by the Executive Board.
- Context: The third PMR concluded that all key performance benchmarks related to the MIPs covered in that report had either been met or were on track; the EVC requested follow-up on the MONA database and staff mobility.
- Coverage of this report: Updates work on MONA and staff mobility and progress through end-2010 on the Implementation Plan responding to Board-endorsed recommendations arising from the IEO Evaluation of IMF Involvement in International Trade Policy Issues.

### Summary of Implementation Status
- Structure:
  - Section A: Progress on key benchmarks for the implementation plan regarding the IMF’s involvement in international trade policy issues.
  - Section B: Progress updates on MONA database and staff mobility as requested by the EVC.

### A. The IMF’s Involvement in International Trade Policy Issues — Key Findings and Actions
- Overall status: Implementation of key performance benchmarks related to the IEO Evaluation of the IMF’s Involvement in International Trade Policy Issues were either met, or are on track for timely completion.
- Guidance and board information:
  - Guidance on financial services and preferential trade agreements (PTAs) were developed by staff and issued to the Board for information.
  - Reference notes cited: "Reference Note on Trade in Financial Services (September 2010)" and "Reference Note on Trade Policy, Preferential Trade Agreements, and WTO Consistency (October 2010)."
- Trade reform guidance and review schedule:
  - New reference notes include guidance for staff on designing effective trade reforms and assessing progress in trade liberalization when attention to trade reform is appropriate.
  - Staff observance of this guidance would be examined in the five-yearly reviews of trade policy (first one expected in 2014).
- Surveillance and multilateral material:
  - Coverage of cross-cutting trade policy issues included in Fund surveillance vehicles, e.g., Chapter 4 of the September 2010 World Economic Outlook.
  - Additional trade-related multilateral surveillance material prepared on a standalone basis, including two Staff Position Notes in April and September 2010 ("Trade and the Crisis: Protect or Recover (April 2010)" and "Reaching the MDGs: An Action Plan for Trade (September 2010)").
- Staffing and integration:
  - Trade policy work continued to be carried out by staff economists able to work effectively on both trade policy and broader macroeconomic issues, aiding integration into the Fund’s broader work.
- Information access and cooperation:
  - Actions to ensure staff access to timely/relevant summary trade policy information regarding goods trade, PTAs, and financial services, including Fund-wide availability of the Global Trade Atlas (containing up to date, detailed bilateral monthly trade statistics).
  - Continued close cooperation and information/data sharing with the World Bank, WTO, and others.
- Outreach and inter-institutional engagement:
  - Regular meetings between senior staff of WTO, World Bank, and other multilateral organizations.
  - Examples of engagement:
    - Staff up to B4 level visited the WTO, met WTO management, and made a formal presentation to the WTO Committee on Trade in Financial Services.
    - Fund staff presented to WTO staff and country delegations on the macroeconomic aspects of protectionism.
    - Staff conducted outreach seminars on IMF LIC facilities reforms to WTO LIC delegations.
    - WTO senior staff attended the GFSR discussion and WEO discussions; WTO expert on trade in financial services visited the Fund for multi-day visits.

### B. Progress on Specific Issues Highlighted by the EVC from the Third PMR
- MONA database:
  - Status at third PMR: MONA launched on IMF external website in January 2009 and updated in October 2009 to include a more up-to-date economic classification of structural conditions.
  - EVC suggestion: More work could be done to track goals and strategies and links to conditions.
  - Current action: Work has begun on the 2011 Conditionality Review, utilizing the MONA database to assess linkage of program conditions to program goals. As part of that review, staff will assess whether further changes to MONA are needed.
- Staff mobility and tenure monitoring:
  - Challenge: Balance mission team stability with staff career development and departmental flexibility.
  - Action: Departments agreed on a reporting system for monitoring staff tenure so the Board will have better information on whether an appropriate balance is being struck.
  - Implementation responsibility: HRD will develop and maintain infrastructure for ongoing monitoring in close collaboration with TGS.
  - Reporting frequency: Updates on progress will be provided to the Board annually through this report.
  - Baseline metric (average time that current incumbents have been in their current positions in five area departments and SPR, based on tenure at end-2010):
    - AFR: Mission Chief 14, Economist 14
    - APD: Mission Chief 11, Economist 11
    - EUR: Mission Chief 17, Economist 13
    - MCD: Mission Chief 17, Economist 14
    - WHD: Mission Chief 16, Economist 17
    - SPR: Mission Chief (Senior Reviewer) 15, Economist 11
  - Note: Table figures show tenure of current incumbents, not average time a staff member spends in a country assignment.

### Conclusions and Proposed Decision
- Conclusion: All key performance benchmarks related to the trade MIP have either been met or are on track for timely completion; no new remedial actions are proposed.
- Forward look: There are no outstanding performance benchmarks to be reviewed in the next PMR, although the next PMR will provide further updates as necessary on broader issues raised in this report.
- Proposed Decision: The Executive Board supports the conclusions in Paragraph 5 of the Fourth Periodic Monitoring Report on the Implementation of Board-Endorsed IEO Recommendations.

### Appendix — Status of Implementation Plan in Response to Board-Endorsed Recommendations on Trade (high-level synthesis)
- Reviews of Fund’s work on trade and guidance to staff:
  - Five-yearly reviews of Fund work on trade policy expected, with first review expected in 2014.
  - Staff guidance on trade in financial services and PTAs developed and issued to the Board for information by July 2010 (implemented: Reference Notes issued September and October 2010).
- Trade policy in Fund-supported programs:
  - 1999 Guidelines on Implementing Trade Policy Reforms updated; content reflected in Reference Note on Trade Policy, Preferential Trade Agreements, and WTO Consistency.
  - Emphasis: Avoid trade restricting measures during Fund-supported programs; promote trade liberalization where necessary for program objectives.
- Multilateral, regional, and bilateral surveillance:
  - Trade-related topics covered in standalone papers and through collaboration with departments responsible for WEOs, REOs, and GFSR.
  - Reference Note highlights need for greater emphasis on global effects of trade policies in systemically important countries and macro-critical trade issues in bilateral surveillance with evenhandedness.
- Staffing-related issues:
  - Need for a critical mass of trade policy expertise affirmed; management concluded a separate Trade Policy Division was not required.
  - Trade policy work maintained within broader departmental structures to facilitate integration into Fund’s macroeconomic and country work.
- Trade policy information:
  - Guidance note on availability/use of tariff and trade policy information provided.
  - Enhanced information sharing with WTO, World Bank, and others; Fund-wide availability of Global Trade Atlas implemented; active engagement in trade policy monitoring exercises.

*Prepared by the Strategy, Policy, and Review Department; Approved by Reza Moghadam; March 11, 2011.*

### Institutional cooperation: mandate and suggested practices (_031111a - Section 2)
- Quoted guidance on senior management commitment:
  - “To spearhead such cooperation, Management and a small number of senior staff need to commit to regular and formal meetings— for example, once a year— with counterparts in other key international organizations involved with trade.... IMF management should report to the Committee on Liaison with the World Bank and other International Organizations and/or the Executive Board/IMFC on proceedings of these meetings and plans for staff level coordination.”
- Directors’ appraisal of the IEO finding:
  - “Directors welcomed the IEO’s finding that institutional cooperation with the WTO and the World Bank on trade has evolved and should be strengthened further...”
- Directors’ recommendations on meeting design and focus:
  - “[Directors]...agreed that occasional meetings on trade with counterparts in other multilateral economic institutions would—if focused and well-designed—bring important benefits. Directors suggested that such meetings might be most effective at staff levels and be used to set an agenda for and follow up on practical issues of common importance to the institutions.”
- Operational practice: meetings and focus
  - F1. Stated operational approach:
    - “Occasional meetings on trade among senior staff of the IMF, World Bank, and WTO, and possibly other multilateral economic institutions will continue, and Fund staff will seek to focus these interactions on issues relevant to the Fund in general and current Fund concerns that are shared with the appropriate institutions. Whenever possible, these could be organized on the margins of other international meetings.”
  - Implementation note:
    - “As detailed above, regular meetings have continued between senior staff of the WTO and World Bank, as well as other relevant multilateral organizations.”

*Source: _031111a - Section 2*

### Section 1

### Fourth Periodic Monitoring Report on the Status of Implementation Plans in Response to Board-Endorsed IEO Recommendations

### Overview
- Purpose: Periodic Monitoring Reports (PMRs) update the status on Management Implementation Plans (MIPs) in response to IEO recommendations endorsed by the Executive Board.
- Context: The third PMR concluded that all key performance benchmarks related to the MIPs covered in that report had either been met or were on track; the EVC requested follow-up on the MONA database and staff mobility.
- Coverage of this report: Updates work on MONA and staff mobility and progress through end-2010 on the Implementation Plan responding to Board-endorsed recommendations arising from the IEO Evaluation of IMF Involvement in International Trade Policy Issues.

### Summary of Implementation Status
- Structure:
  - Section A: Progress on key benchmarks for the implementation plan regarding the IMF’s involvement in international trade policy issues.
  - Section B: Progress updates on MONA database and staff mobility as requested by the EVC.

### A. The IMF’s Involvement in International Trade Policy Issues — Key Findings and Actions
- Overall status: Implementation of key performance benchmarks related to the IEO Evaluation of the IMF’s Involvement in International Trade Policy Issues were either met, or are on track for timely completion.
- Guidance and board information:
  - Guidance on financial services and preferential trade agreements (PTAs) were developed by staff and issued to the Board for information.
  - Reference notes cited: "Reference Note on Trade in Financial Services (September 2010)" and "Reference Note on Trade Policy, Preferential Trade Agreements, and WTO Consistency (October 2010)."
- Trade reform guidance and review schedule:
  - New reference notes include guidance for staff on designing effective trade reforms and assessing progress in trade liberalization when attention to trade reform is appropriate.
  - Staff observance of this guidance would be examined in the five-yearly reviews of trade policy (first one expected in 2014).
- Surveillance and multilateral material:
  - Coverage of cross-cutting trade policy issues included in Fund surveillance vehicles, e.g., Chapter 4 of the September 2010 World Economic Outlook.
  - Additional trade-related multilateral surveillance material prepared on a standalone basis, including two Staff Position Notes in April and September 2010 ("Trade and the Crisis: Protect or Recover (April 2010)" and "Reaching the MDGs: An Action Plan for Trade (September 2010)").
- Staffing and integration:
  - Trade policy work continued to be carried out by staff economists able to work effectively on both trade policy and broader macroeconomic issues, aiding integration into the Fund’s broader work.
- Information access and cooperation:
  - Actions to ensure staff access to timely/relevant summary trade policy information regarding goods trade, PTAs, and financial services, including Fund-wide availability of the Global Trade Atlas (containing up to date, detailed bilateral monthly trade statistics).
  - Continued close cooperation and information/data sharing with the World Bank, WTO, and others.
- Outreach and inter-institutional engagement:
  - Regular meetings between senior staff of WTO, World Bank, and other multilateral organizations.
  - Examples of engagement:
    - Staff up to B4 level visited the WTO, met WTO management, and made a formal presentation to the WTO Committee on Trade in Financial Services.
    - Fund staff presented to WTO staff and country delegations on the macroeconomic aspects of protectionism.
    - Staff conducted outreach seminars on IMF LIC facilities reforms to WTO LIC delegations.
    - WTO senior staff attended the GFSR discussion and WEO discussions; WTO expert on trade in financial services visited the Fund for multi-day visits.

### B. Progress on Specific Issues Highlighted by the EVC from the Third PMR
- MONA database:
  - Status at third PMR: MONA launched on IMF external website in January 2009 and updated in October 2009 to include a more up-to-date economic classification of structural conditions.
  - EVC suggestion: More work could be done to track goals and strategies and links to conditions.
  - Current action: Work has begun on the 2011 Conditionality Review, utilizing the MONA database to assess linkage of program conditions to program goals. As part of that review, staff will assess whether further changes to MONA are needed.
- Staff mobility and tenure monitoring:
  - Challenge: Balance mission team stability with staff career development and departmental flexibility.
  - Action: Departments agreed on a reporting system for monitoring staff tenure so the Board will have better information on whether an appropriate balance is being struck.
  - Implementation responsibility: HRD will develop and maintain infrastructure for ongoing monitoring in close collaboration with TGS.
  - Reporting frequency: Updates on progress will be provided to the Board annually through this report.
  - Baseline metric (average time that current incumbents have been in their current positions in five area departments and SPR, based on tenure at end-2010):
    - AFR: Mission Chief 14, Economist 14
    - APD: Mission Chief 11, Economist 11
    - EUR: Mission Chief 17, Economist 13
    - MCD: Mission Chief 17, Economist 14
    - WHD: Mission Chief 16, Economist 17
    - SPR: Mission Chief (Senior Reviewer) 15, Economist 11
  - Note: Table figures show tenure of current incumbents, not average time a staff member spends in a country assignment.

### Conclusions and Proposed Decision
- Conclusion: All key performance benchmarks related to the trade MIP have either been met or are on track for timely completion; no new remedial actions are proposed.
- Forward look: There are no outstanding performance benchmarks to be reviewed in the next PMR, although the next PMR will provide further updates as necessary on broader issues raised in this report.
- Proposed Decision: The Executive Board supports the conclusions in Paragraph 5 of the Fourth Periodic Monitoring Report on the Implementation of Board-Endorsed IEO Recommendations.

### Appendix — Status of Implementation Plan in Response to Board-Endorsed Recommendations on Trade (high-level synthesis)
- Reviews of Fund’s work on trade and guidance to staff:
  - Five-yearly reviews of Fund work on trade policy expected, with first review expected in 2014.
  - Staff guidance on trade in financial services and PTAs developed and issued to the Board for information by July 2010 (implemented: Reference Notes issued September and October 2010).
- Trade policy in Fund-supported programs:
  - 1999 Guidelines on Implementing Trade Policy Reforms updated; content reflected in Reference Note on Trade Policy, Preferential Trade Agreements, and WTO Consistency.
  - Emphasis: Avoid trade restricting measures during Fund-supported programs; promote trade liberalization where necessary for program objectives.
- Multilateral, regional, and bilateral surveillance:
  - Trade-related topics covered in standalone papers and through collaboration with departments responsible for WEOs, REOs, and GFSR.
  - Reference Note highlights need for greater emphasis on global effects of trade policies in systemically important countries and macro-critical trade issues in bilateral surveillance with evenhandedness.
- Staffing-related issues:
  - Need for a critical mass of trade policy expertise affirmed; management concluded a separate Trade Policy Division was not required.
  - Trade policy work maintained within broader departmental structures to facilitate integration into Fund’s macroeconomic and country work.
- Trade policy information:
  - Guidance note on availability/use of tariff and trade policy information provided.
  - Enhanced information sharing with WTO, World Bank, and others; Fund-wide availability of Global Trade Atlas implemented; active engagement in trade policy monitoring exercises.

*Prepared by the Strategy, Policy, and Review Department; Approved by Reza Moghadam; March 11, 2011.*

### Section 2

### _031111a - Section 2

### Institutional cooperation: mandate and suggested practices
- Quoted guidance on senior management commitment:
  - “To spearhead such cooperation, Management and a small number of senior staff need to commit to regular and formal meetings— for example, once a year— with counterparts in other key international organizations involved with trade.... IMF management should report to the Committee on Liaison with the World Bank and other International Organizations and/or the Executive Board/IMFC on proceedings of these meetings and plans for staff level coordination.”
- Directors’ appraisal of the IEO finding:
  - “Directors welcomed the IEO’s finding that institutional cooperation with the WTO and the World Bank on trade has evolved and should be strengthened further...”
- Directors’ recommendations on meeting design and focus:
  - “[Directors]...agreed that occasional meetings on trade with counterparts in other multilateral economic institutions would—if focused and well-designed—bring important benefits. Directors suggested that such meetings might be most effective at staff levels and be used to set an agenda for and follow up on practical issues of common importance to the institutions.”

### Operational practice: meetings and focus
- F1. Stated operational approach:
  - “Occasional meetings on trade among senior staff of the IMF, World Bank, and WTO, and possibly other multilateral economic institutions will continue, and Fund staff will seek to focus these interactions on issues relevant to the Fund in general and current Fund concerns that are shared with the appropriate institutions. Whenever possible, these could be organized on the margins of other international meetings.”
- Implementation note:
  - “As detailed above, regular meetings have continued between senior staff of the WTO and World Bank, as well as other relevant multilateral organizations.”

*Source: _031111a - Section 2*

---


_Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/np/pp/eng/2011/_031111a.pdf_