IMF Conference

The 13^th Statistical Forum of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will take place in hybrid format (in person and virtually) in Washington, D.C. from November 19 to 20, 2025. The Forum is a platform for policymakers, researchers, the private sector, regulators, and compilers of economic and financial data to come together to discuss cutting edge issues in macroeconomic and financial statistics and to build support for statistical improvements.

The theme of this year’s Statistical Forum is Measuring Cross-border Economic and Financial Linkages in a Dynamic World. The ongoing changes in the global economy emanating from globalization, digitalization, and innovations in financial markets and instruments are becoming more complex. Accurate measurement of these international interactions is needed to assist policymakers, macroeconomists, and businesses in making informed decisions at the time of increased uncertainty. The 13th Statistical Forum will explore how the recently updated International Statistical Standards, the Integrated Balance of Payment and International Investment Position Manual, seventh edition (BPM7) and System of National Accounts 2025 Manua (SNA2025), can help address some of the current measurement gaps and explore any new, emerging gaps that may need to be addressed by the statistical community.

13th IMF Statistical Forum Registration ▶

The IMF’s Statistical Forum Program Committee seeks proposals for research papers reporting on: (i) data needs to understand the evolving global value chains; (ii) economic implications of international e-commerce and digital platforms; (iii) implications of financial innovation for measuring financial flows; (iv) the drivers of discrepancies in bilateral and global statistics; (v) initial attempts to measure cross-border economic and financial linkages; and (vi) early efforts to implement BPM7 and SNA2025 recommendations. Contributions are solicited on the following topics of interest, as outlined in the different proposed sessions^[1] (see guidelines for submission) :

Session I:Who is Making What? Data Needs to Understand the Evolving Global Value Chains

• The evolving nature of global supply chains and factoryless goods production is significantly reshaping the global economy, presenting unique challenges for policymakers when assessing national income, cross-border flows or deciding on taxation policy. The session will discuss the macro-critical impacts of multi-national enterprises (MNEs), global supply chains, and factoryless goods production and identify data needs to better understand trade and investment flows and national income aggregates.

Session II:Global Consumers: Grasping and Assessing International E-commerce

• The rise of international e-commerce and digital platforms has transformed not just household trade in goods, allowing them to digitally order goods from anywhere in the world, but also household trade in services, including an increasing amount of cultural and financial services (e.g. streaming videos, online gaming, vacation packages, social media cultural content, AI subscription services, start-up financing, and donations). This session will explore whether we have the right data and statistical processes to measure these trends while adjusting traditional macroeconomic statistics in a consistent way to support policy making.

Session III: Beyond Borders: Implications of Financial Innovation for Measuring Financial Flows

• Rapid advances in financial technology—particularly the global rise of digital payment systems, decentralized finance (DeFi), and blockchain-based instruments—are transforming how cross-border financial transactions are conducted, recorded, and regulated. These innovations are reshaping global trade and capital flows, increasing financial interconnectedness, and presenting both new opportunities and risks for international financial markets. This session will examine how digital payment adoption is altering the landscape of international finance, with a focus on the data needed to understand the implications on the traditional economic aggregates, financial stability, regulatory oversight, and efforts to combat illicit financial flows.

Session IV:Bridging the Gaps: Minimizing Asymmetries in International Trade and Investment Statistics

• Persistent asymmetries in international trade and investment statistics both at the global and bilateral levels pose significant challenges for policymakers, researchers, and statisticians. Differences in how countries record trade in goods and services, remittances, and cross-border financial flows can lead to large discrepancies in global aggregates, complicating formulation of the evidence-based policy. Understanding and addressing the drivers of these asymmetries is critical for trade negotiations, investment policy, macroeconomic surveillance, and the detection of imbalances and vulnerabilities. The session will explore the main drivers of discrepancies in bilateral and global statistics and discuss current efforts to address these asymmetries.

Session V:Recent Responses to Deal with Statistical Challenges of Measuring Cross-border Economic and Financial Linkages

• This session will discuss early responses by statistical agencies and other institutions involved in the statistical processes to develop improvements in data sets and methodologies to understand international economic and financial market developments. These efforts could range from updated approaches and processes in collecting data (including reliance on Big Data and alternative data sources and other innovative steps) on cross-border transactions to efforts to strengthen institutional capacities of statistical and other agencies.

Session VI: From Framework to Implementation: How New Statistical Manuals Respond to Data Needs and Policy Demands

• The coordinated release of the mutually consistent BPM7 and SNA2025 represents a major step forward in addressing longstanding user demands. The progress includes the stock/flow reconciliation (integrated IIP), greater detail on the activities of MNEs to better capture their role in international production and investment, improved guidance for measuring the influence of global value chains and cross-border e-commerce on trade and investment flows, and expanded granularity and other economic flow detail in the international investment position to support more nuanced external sustainability assessments. This session will feature presentations from agencies actively working to elaborate and implement BPM7 and SNA2025 recommendations.

The Forum will provide participants with an opportunity to share experiences and build on topics of mutual interest through presentations and panel discussions.

[1] The sessions’ organization is currently tentative. Upon finalization of the agenda, the sessions will be better organized, and can be presently differently.