Manuals & Guides
2009
December 17, 2009
Export and Import Price Index Manual: Theory and Practice
Description: A joint production by six international organizations, this manual explores the conceptual and theoretical issues that national statistical offices should consider in the daily compilation of export and import price indices. Intended for use by both developed and developing countries, it replaces guidance from the United Nations that is now more than a quarter-century old and thus badly outdated. The chapters cover many topics; they elaborate on the different practices currently in use, propose alternatives whenever possible, and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative. Given its comprehensive nature, the manual is expected to satisfy the needs of many users in addition to national statistical offices and international organizations, particularly businesses, policymakers, and researchers.
September 14, 2009
International Transactions in Remittances: Guide for Compilers and Users (RCG)
Description: The International Transactions in Remittance: Guide for Compilers and Users (RCG) presents concepts, definitions, and classifications related to remittances. It is consistent with the new standards for measuring balance of payments transactions, as contained in the sixth edition of the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM6). These standards are used globally to compile comprehensive and comparable data. The RCG identifies the main remittances compilation methods currently being used by compilers and discusses in detail the strengths and weaknesses of each method. It is the first manual providing compilation guidance for remittances and is also the first compilation guide based on concepts set out in BPM6. Although the RCG is primarily aimed at remittances data compilers, it may also be useful for users who wish to understand remittances data.
2008
July 11, 2008
Monetary and Financial Statistics: Compilation Guide: Compilation Guide
Description: Monetary and Financial Statistics: Compilation Guide is a companion to the IMF's Monetary and Financial Statistics Manual (2000). It describes the economic sectorization, valuation, and other accounting rules used in compiling data on the financial assets and liabilities of the financial corporations sector and all economic sectors of an economy. This guide to best practices contributes to the IMF's ongoing initiatives to enhance data transparency and statistical standards among member countries, and thus to further the adoption of sound macroeconomic policies and the smooth functioning of global financial markets.
2007
October 19, 2007
Guide on Resource Revenue Transparency (2007)
Description: The Guide on Resource Revenue Transparency applies the principles of the revised IMF Code of Good Practices on Fiscal Transparency (‘the Code’) to the unique set of transparency problems faced by countries that derive a significant share of their revenues from natural resources and need to address complex and volatile transaction flows. The Guide identifies and explains generally recognized good or best practices for transparency of resource revenue management. It supplements the IMF Manual on Fiscal Transparency. The Guide has been revised to reflect the new Code and to provide more recent examples of good practice by individual countries. It is designed to give a framework for assessing resource-specific issues within broader fiscal transparency assessments (including so-called ‘fiscal ROSCs’). The Guide has been used by the governments and legislatures of resource-rich countries, civil societies, providers of technical support, and interested academics and observers.
October 19, 2007
Manual on Fiscal Transparency (2007)
Description: The Manual on Fiscal Transparency provides an authoritative account and explanation of the revised IMF Code of Good Practices on Fiscal Transparency (the Code). It expands and updates the 2001 edition of the Manual, which has been used by countries undertaking assessments of the transparency of their fiscal management practices (including so-called fiscal ROSCs), legislatures, civil society organizations, economists, and financial analysts. Numerous new examples of implementation of the Code by countries in all regions of the world and at different levels of development are included. The Manual, which reflects a public comment process, is also supplemented by the revised Guide on Resource Revenue Transparency. It identifies numerous benefits from fiscal transparency, including providing citizens with information to hold governments accountable for their policy choices, informing and improving the quality of economic policy decisions, highlighting potential risks to the fiscal outlook, and easing a country’s access to international capital markets.
July 25, 2007
The Special Data Dissemination Standard: Guide for Subscribers and Users
Description: The Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) was established by the IMF in 1996 to guide members that already had, or that might seek, access to international capital markets in providing key economic and financial data to the public. In the following year, the IMF established the General Data Dissemination Standard (GDDS), which seeks to prepare countries for meeting the requirements of the SDDS. Data supplied by countries subscribing to the SDDS, as well as information provided by countries participating in the GDDS, are posted on the Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB) on the IMF's public website (http://dsbb.imf.org). This Guide is intended to assist subscribers of the SDDS, GDDS participants moving toward subscription to the SDDS, and users of the DSBB in becoming aware of the features and scope of the SDDS and the DSBB. It is intended to further the IMF's initiatives in data transparency and standards, to enhance the public availability of timely and comprehensive international statistics, and therefore to contribute to countries pursuit of sound macroeconomic policies and to the improved functioning of global financial markets.
Notes: Full text also available in Arabic, French, Russian, and Spanish.
July 25, 2007
The General Data Dissemination System: Guide for Participants and Users
Description: The IMF's work on data dissemination standards consists of two tiers: the General Data Dissemination System (GDDS), which applies to all IMF member countries, and the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS), for those members having or seeking access to international capital markets. The GDDS framework provide governments with guidance on the overall development of the macroeconomic, financial, and sociodemographic data that are essential for policymaking and analysis in an environment that increasingly requires relevant, comprehensive, and accurate statistical data. This Guide explains the nature, objectives, and operation of the GDDS; the data dimensions it covers; and how countries participate. It provides national statistical authorities with a management tool and a framework to foster sound statistical methodology, professional data compilation, and data dissemination. The Guide supersedes the version updated in March 2002 and incorporates the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as specific elements of the GDDS sociodemographic component, which was articulated with the collaboration of the World Bank.
Notes: Full text available in Arabic, French, Russian, and Spanish.
April 13, 2007
International Monetary Fund Handbook: Its Functions, Policies, and Operations
Description: This paper describes the functions, policies, and operations of the IMF. The IMF is an independent international organization, and is a cooperative of 185 member countries, whose objective is to promote world economic stability and growth. The member countries are the shareholders of the cooperative, providing the capital of the IMF through quota subscriptions. In return, the IMF provides its members with macroeconomic policy advice, financing in times of balance-of-payments need, and technical assistance and training to improve national economic management.
2006
April 4, 2006
Financial Soundness Indicators: Compilation Guide
Description: Financial Soundness Indicators (FSIs) are measures that indicate the current financial health and soundness of a country's financial institutions, and their corporate and household counterparts. FSIs include both aggregated individual institution data and indicators that are representative of the markets in which the financial institutions operate. FSIs are calculated and disseminated for the purpose of supporting macroprudential analysis--the assessment and surveillance of the strengths and vulnerabilities of financial systems--with a view to strengthening financial stability and limiting the likelihood of financial crises. Financial Soundness Indicators: Compilation Guide is intended to give guidance on the concepts, sources, and compilation and dissemination techniques underlying FSIs; to encourage the use and cross-country comparison of these data; and, thereby, to support national and international surveillance of financial systems.
2005
November 16, 2005
Statistical Capacity Building: Case Studies and Lessons Learned
Description: IMF technical assistance provided by the Statistics Department--toward assisting IMF member countries in developing the ability to provide reliable and comparable economic and financial data on a timely basis to policymakers and markets--has increased more than fourfold over the past decade. This assistance has proven critical in countries building their statistical capacity so as to come into line with international data standards in an increasingly globalized and electronically interconnected world. Statistical Capacity Building: Case Studies and Lessons Learned presents four case studies drawn from experience in three countries in transition to the market, two of which were also in postconflict situations, in the 1990s and early 2000s: Cambodia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Ukraine. Issues of setting, institutional and statistical arrangements, strategies, and implementation are examined, and lessons learned.