Policy Papers

April 12, 2019

Provisional Agenda for the Thirty-Ninth Meeting of the International Monetary and Financial Committee

April 11, 2019

Joint Responsibility Shared Rewards: The Managing Director’s Global Policy Agenda

Description: International cooperation, economic and financial integration, and technological progress have delivered enormous benefits across the globe during the past decades. Yet, in many countries, these benefits have not been shared adequately to prevent eroding trust in institutions and weakening support for the global system that has made these gains possible. 

This rising disengagement comes at a time when the world is facing challenges from rapid technological advancements, uncertainty about the future of work, demographic shifts, environmental degradation, and climate change. These challenges can only be met in a new multilateralism that instills confidence that the costs and rewards of lasting solutions will be shared by all. It therefore falls on policymakers to re-orient domestic and international policies to better manage the economic and social consequences of international integration and technological advancements, while being mindful of the global footprint of their actions.

The concept of a new multilateralism hinges on three complementary and reinforcing areas of policy action: domestic policies to build more resilient economies and promote economic opportunities; upgraded global cooperation that will provide a more level playing field across borders;  and a commitment to work together on broader global challenges.

March 21, 2019

Fourth Progress Report on Inclusion of Enhanced Contractual Provisions in International Sovereign Bond Contract

Description: This paper reports on progress in inclusion of enhanced collective action clauses and modified pari passu clauses as of end-October 2018. The report finds that enhanced CACs have now become the market standard, with only a few issuers standing out from the market trend. Around 88 percent of international sovereign bonds (in aggregate principal amount) issued since October 2014 in the main jurisdictions of New York and England include such clauses. The modified pari passu clause continues to be incorporated as a package with the enhanced CACs, with few exceptions. In line with findings in previous reports, the inclusion of enhanced CACs does not seem to have an observable pricing effect, according to either primary or secondary market data. The outstanding stock of international sovereign bonds without enhanced CACs remains high, with about 39 percent of the outstanding stock including enhanced CACs.

March 10, 2019

Corporate Taxation in the Global Economy

Description: The policy paper Corporate Taxation in the Global Economy stresses the need to maintain and build on the progress in international cooperation on tax matters that has been achieved in recent years, and in some respects now appears under stress. With special attention to the circumstances of developing countries, the paper identifies and discusses various options currently under discussion for the international tax system to ensure that countries, and in particular low-income countries, can continue to collect corporate tax revenues from multinational activities.

February 25, 2019

Key Trends in Implementing the Fund's Transparency Policy

Description: At the time of the 2005 Review of the Fund’s Transparency Policy, it was agreed that information on key trends in implementation of the transparency policy would be circulated to the Executive Board regularly, along with lists indicating the publication status of reports. The tables in this report contain information on documents considered by the Board in 2017, and update the previous annual report on Key Trends.

February 4, 2019

Review of the Fund’s Strategy on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism

Description: Safeguarding financial integrity is a priority for the international community, including the Fund. Money laundering (ML), related predicate crimes, terrorist financing (TF), and the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (PF) pose serious threats to the integrity and stability of some countries' financial sector or to external stability and can also threaten the international financial system. It is increasingly recognized that effective anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) frameworks, and financial integrity more broadly, are key to financial stability, and that efforts to this effect should be pursued. Strong AML/CFT policies and measures are therefore crucial to mitigate the attendant threats.

January 29, 2019

Fiscal Transparency Initiative: Integration of Natural Resource Management Issues

Description: This paper integrates into the  IMF Fiscal Transparency Code (FTC) a new fourth pillar (Pillar IV) on natural resource revenue management.
 
The newly completed FTC integrates transparency principles for natural resource revenue management in a unified four-pillar framework. Pillar IV addresses issues specific to resource-rich countries across the entire resource revenue management chain, from the ownership and allocation of resource rights, to resource revenue mobilization, its budgeting and utilization. This structure complements Pillars I-III, which were published in 2014, focusing more generally on fiscal reporting, fiscal forecasting and budgeting, and fiscal risk analysis and management.
  
Pillar IV aims to reflect both established transparency practices in the extractive industries, as well as emerging norms such as the publication of resource payments and contracts, and the disclosure of beneficial owners of resource rights. It also reflects the lessons learned from pilot fiscal transparency evaluations in Peru, Tanzania, United Kingdom, Mexico, and Trinidad and Tobago, and extensive stakeholder feedback on earlier drafts of Pillar IV released for public consultation in 2015 and 2016.

Going forward, the four-pillar FTC will underpin Fiscal Transparency Evaluations for resource-rich countries. Pillar IV will also inform a second volume of the Fiscal Transparency Handbook (forming an update to the 2007 Guide on Resource Revenue Transparency).

January 29, 2019

Statement by the Managing Director on the Independent Evaluation Office Report on the IMF Financial Surveillance

Description: The IEO report provides a welcome opportunity to reflect on the IMF’s initiatives to expand and deepen its financial surveillance work in response to the Global Financial Crisis, which were made explicit in the 2012 Integrated Surveillance Decision and the 2012 Financial Surveillance Strategy. Reflecting its macroeconomic and financial expertise, global membership and governance, the IMF is well placed to make members aware of global financial stability risks while advising them on policies tailored to their circumstances.

January 17, 2019

List of IMF Member Countries with Delays in Completion of Article IV Consultations or Mandatory Financial Stability Assessments over 18 Months

Description: In accordance with Executive Board Decision No. 15106-(12/21), the Fund will publish on its external website a list of member countries whose Article IV consultations or mandatory financial stability assessments have been delayed by more than 18 months, as of December 15, 2018, since the expected deadline for conclusion.

January 10, 2019

Extension of the Periods for Consent to and Payment of Quota Increases

Description: On December 27, 2018, the IMF’s Executive Board approved a further six-month extension of the period for members to consent to an increase in their quotas under the Fourteenth General Review of Quotas (“Fourteenth Review”) through June 28, 2019. The deadline was due to expire on December 28, 2018. However, Board of Governors Resolution No. 66-2 provides that the Executive Board may extend the period for consent as it may determine. An extension under Resolution No. 66-2 also extends the periods of consent for quota increases under the 2008 Reform of Quota and Voice (Resolution No. 63-2) and the Eleventh General Review of Quotas (Resolution No. 53-2).

The Executive Board also approved a further six-month extension of the period for payment of quota increases under the Fourteenth Review, and an extension for the payment of the quota increases under the 2008 Reform, through June 28, 2019.