International Monetary Fund

IMF Seeks Views on its Transparency Policy



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For a summary of comments from Civil Society Organizations on IMF Transparency please follow this link:

Consultation Roundtable on IMF Transparency


Last Updated: July 28, 2017

The IMF is seeking views from the public on its transparency policy as part of a review of the policy scheduled for mid-2009.

The IMF strives to provide meaningful and timely information on its work and on the economies of member countries to its global audience. Since the IMF launched its transparency initiative in the 1990s, the institution has become much more open and the vast majority of documents are published.

The transparency policy establishes guidelines for the release of IMF Executive Board documents to the public. The publication status of most categories of documents is “voluntary but presumed” (see the box below), and once a document is issued to the Executive Board, any changes are limited. The review of the policy will focus on the experience with the policy against the background of increased global financial integration and greater emphasis on external communication since the last evaluation of transparency. For the review, we would like to obtain external stakeholders’ views on the usefulness, accessibility, candor, and impact of IMF reports and other IMF information.

To provide your views, please select the one of the three short questionnaires that appear at the right that best matches your affiliation. Please note that when the questionnaire refers to "IMF reports," this includes all types of published documents such as country staff reports, Public Information Notices, Letters of Intent, policy papers, etc. The questionnaire should take only a few minutes to complete and your response will be fully confidential and sent automatically. Alternatively, you can click on a questionnaire and print it, rather than completing it on-line, and then send it or other comments by e-mail to transparency@imf.org. We request that comments be submitted by June 30 to allow their consideration for the review, and thank you in advance for providing your views.

Key Features of the Transparency Policy

The publication of most Executive Board documents is “voluntary but presumed.” For country reports, this means that publication requires the member’s explicit consent and is expected to take place within 30 calendar days following the Board meeting at which the document is discussed.

  • Staff reports are not negotiated with country authorities, and once they are issued to the Board, only limited modifications can be made:
  • Corrections to documents can be made only to ensure factual accuracy, and are limited to typographical and factual errors and mischaracterization of the authorities’ views. Corrections are expected to be made before the Board meets to discuss the report.
  • Deletions of material from a country report may be requested by the member country only if the material is not already in the public domain and is highly market-sensitive or involves premature disclosure of policy intentions.