Manuals & Guides
2005
September 29, 2005
Financial Sector Assessment: A Handbook
Description: The Handbook presents an overall analytical framework for assessing financial system stability and developmental needs, providing broad guidance on approaches, methodologies, and techniques of assessing financial systems. Although the Handbook draws substantially on World Bank and IMF experience with the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) and from the broader policy and operational work in both institutions, it is designed for generic use in financial sector assessments, whether conducted by country authorities themselves, or by World Bank and IMF teams.
April 15, 2005
Guidelines for Foreign Exchange Reserve Management: Accompanying Document and Case Studies
Description: This accompanying document to the Guidelines for Foreign Exchange Reserve Management, which the IMF published in 2004, presents case studies prepared by reserve management entities in 20 countries. These sample case studies illustrate how a range of countries from around the world, at different stages of economic and financial development and institutional structure, have developed their capacity in reserve management in the areas covered by the Guidelines. The various strategies adopted by the countries, which are based on the country-specific policy environment, offer useful insights and suggestions to countries seeking to strengthen their policy frameworks for reserve management.
February 24, 2005
Manual of Fiscal Transparency
Description: This series contains practical "how-to" information for economists and includes topics such as tax policy, balance of payments statistics, external debt statistics, foreign exchange reserve management, and financial sector assessment.
2004
September 16, 2004
Foreign Direct Investment: Trends, Data Availability, Concepts, and Recording Practices
Description: The increasing importance of multinational enterprises in the global economy has stimulated interest in improving the availability, accuracy, and comparability of foreign direct investment (FDI) statistics among policymakers, analysts, and statisticians. This report notes recent trends in FDI and examines the progress made in moving toward compilation of FDI statistics in accordance with standards established by the IMF and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The report also reviews international recommendations for the compilation, analysis, and dissemination of FDI data and notes discrepancies in global balance of payments statistics and in data on bilateral FDI stocks. In addition, the report provides information on selected countries current practices in measuring FDI--on the basis of results from a joint IMF/OECD survey that covered 30 OECD countries and 31 other IMF member countries and was the subject of Foreign Direct Investment Statistics: How Countries Measure FDI 2001, published by the IMF and OECD in 2003.
September 3, 2004
Producer Price Index Manual: Theory and Practice
Description: The producer price index (PPI) measures the rate at which the prices of producer goods and services are changing overtime. It is a key statistic for economic and business decision making and inflation monitoring. The Producer Price Index Manual: Theory and Practice provides clear, up-to-date guidance on the concepts, uses, methods, and economic theory of the PPI, including information on classifications, sources, compilation techniques, and analytical uses of the PPI. The Manual supersedes the previous international guidance on PPIs (available in the Manual on Producers’ Price Indices for Industrial Goods, published by the United Nations Statistics Division in 1979). The Manual's conceptual framework derives from the System of National Accounts1993 and recent developments in index number theory. Preparation of the Manual was undertaken by the Intersecretariat Working Group on Price Statistics through a technical expert group chaired by the IMF and involving representatives from the ILO, the OECD, the UN Economic Commission for Europe, the World Bank, national statistical offices, and academic institutions.
August 25, 2004
Consumer Price Index Manual: Theory and Practice
Description: The consumer price index (CPI) measures the rate at which the prices of consumer goods and services are changing over time. It is a key statistic for economic and social policymaking and has substantial and wide-ranging implications for governments, businesses, and households. This important and comprehensive Manual provides guidelines for statistical offices and other agencies responsible for constructing CPIs, and explains in-depth the methods that are used to calculate a CPI. It also examines the underlying economic and statistical concepts and principles needed for making choices in efficient and cost-effective ways, and for appreciating the full implications of those choices.
Notes: Full Text in English available on the International Labour Organization website. Also available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Spanish, and Russian
August 16, 2004
Guidelines for Foreign Exchange Reserve Management
Description: These guidelines are intended to assist countries in strengthening their policy frameworks for reserve management so that they can become more resilient to shocks that may originate from global financial markets or within the domestic financial system. The guidelines have been developed as part of a broader IMF work program to help strengthen international financial architecture, to promote policies and practices that contribute to stability and transparency in the financial sector, and to reduce external vulnerabilities of member countries.
June 17, 2004
Financial Intelligence Units: An Overview
Description: Over the past decade and beyond, the need for a modern anti-money-laundering strategy has become widely accepted internationally. Depriving criminal elements of the proceeds of their crimes has increasingly been seen as an important tool to combat drug trafficking and, more recently, as a critical element in fighting organized crime, corruption, and the financing of terrorism, and maintaining the integrity of financial markets. The first few financial intelligence units (FIUs) were established in the early 1990s in response to the need for countries to have a central agency to receive, analyze, and disseminate financial information to combat money laundering. Over the ensuing period, the number of FIUs has continued to increase, reaching 84 in 2003. This handbook responds to the need for information on FIUs. It provides references to the appropriate Financial ActionTask Force (FATF) standards wherever appropriate.
2003
August 4, 2003
Suppressing the Financing of Terrorism: A Handbook for Legislative Drafting
Description: In recent years, the IMF has become deeply involved in the international movement to prevent the abuse of financial systems and to protect and enhance the integrity of the international financial system. The IMF’s involvement has been expanded beyond anti-money-laundering efforts to include those aimed at combating the financing of terrorism. This handbook will facilitate the provision of relevant technical assistance by providing a compendium of essential materials for officials drafting legislation designed to combat such financing. The relevant international standards and obligations are presented, together with examples of existing legislation designed to meet them. The issues discussed in this book are relevant to all countries, regardless of their individual geopolitical situations.
August 4, 2003
Guidelines for Public Debt Management: Accompanying Document and Selected Case Studies
Description: This accompanying document to the Guidelines for Public Debt Management, which the IMF and the World Bank co-published in 2001, contains sample case studies that illustrate how a range of countries from around the world and at different stages of economic and financial development are developing their debt management capacity in a manner consistent with the guidelines. The experience of these countries is discussed in this publication, and should offer some useful and practical suggestions to other countries, as they strive to build their own capacity in public debt management.