Annual Report on Exchange Arrangements and Exchange Restrictions

The AREAER provides a comprehensive description of restrictions on international trade and payments, capital controls, and measures implemented in the financial sector, including prudential measures that may affect capital flows for all IMF members. It also provides information on the classification of their exchange rate arrangements, operation of foreign exchange markets, restrictions on current international payments and transfers and multiple currency practices subject to the IMF’s jurisdiction in accordance with Article VIII. Descriptions of individual member countries are available at AREAER Online.

The AREAER provides a comprehensive description of restrictions on international trade and payments, capital controls, and measures implemented in the financial sector, including prudential measures that may affect capital flows for all IMF members. It also provides information on the classification of their exchange rate arrangements, operation of foreign exchange markets, restrictions on current international payments and transfers and multiple currency practices subject to the IMF’s jurisdiction in accordance with Article VIII. Descriptions of individual member countries are available at AREAER Online.

The AREAER provides a comprehensive description of restrictions on international trade and payments, capital controls, and measures implemented in the financial sector, including prudential measures that may affect capital flows for all IMF members. It also provides information on the classification of their exchange rate arrangements, operation of foreign exchange markets, restrictions on current international payments and transfers and multiple currency practices subject to the IMF’s jurisdiction in accordance with Article VIII. Descriptions of individual member countries are available at AREAER Online.

This is the 71st issue of the Annual Report on Exchange Arrangements and Exchange Restrictions (AREAER), which provides a yearly description of the foreign exchange arrangements, exchange and trade systems, and capital controls of all IMF member countries.1 The AREAER reports on restrictions in effect under Article XIV, Section 2, of the IMF’s Articles of Agreement in accordance with Section 3 of Article XIV, which mandates annual reporting on such restrictions.2 It also provides information relating to paragraph 25 of the 2012 Integrated Surveillance Decision, which restates the obligation of each member country under the IMF’s Articles of Agreement to notify the IMF of the exchange arrangement it intends to apply and any changes in that arrangement.3 The AREAER provides a description of global exchange and trade systems. It covers restrictions on current international payments and transfers and multiple currency practices (MCPs) subject to the IMF’s jurisdiction in accordance with Article VIII, Sections 2(a) and 3, in addition to those maintained under Article XIV of the IMF’s Articles of Agreement.4 The report also provides information on the operation of foreign exchange markets, controls on international trade, controls on capital transactions, and measures implemented in the financial sector, including prudential measures. In addition, the AREAER reports on exchange measures imposed by member countries solely for national and/or international security reasons, including those reported to the IMF in accordance with relevant decisions by the IMF Executive Board.5 The AREAER provides information, relating to paragraph 25 of the 2012 Integrated Surveillance Decision, on exchange rate arrangements of member countries: the de jure arrangements as described by the countries and the de facto arrangements, which are classified into 10 categories (Table 1). This classification is based on the information available on members’ de facto arrangements, as analyzed by IMF staff, which may differ from countries’ officially announced (de jure) arrangements. The methodology and the characteristics of the categories are described in the Compilation Guide included in this report.

The Annual Report on Exchange Arrangements and Exchange Restrictions has been published by the IMF since 1950. It draws on information available to the IMF from a number of sources, including that provided in the course of official staff visits to member countries, and has been prepared in close consultation with national authorities.

This publication is based on a database maintained by the IMF that tracks exchange arrangements and foreign exchange systems for all member countries on an annual basis and also provides historical information on these.

The Annual Report on Exchange Arrangements and Exchange Restrictions has been published by the IMF since 1950. It draws on information available to the IMF from a number of sources, including that provided in the course of official staff visits to member countries, and has been prepared in close consultation with national authorities.

The Annual Report on Exchange Arrangements and Exchange Restrictions has been published by the IMF since 1950. It draws on information available to the IMF from a number of sources, including that provided in the course of official staff visits to member countries, and has been prepared in close consultation with national authorities.

The AREAER provides a description of the foreign exchange arrangements, exchange and trade systems, and capital controls of all IMF Member countries.

This is the 66th issue of the AREAER, which provides comprehensive descriptions of the foreign exchange arrangements, exchange and trade systems, and capital controls of all IMF member countries. It describes each country’s market operations, international trade policies, controls on capital transactions, and financial sector measures. AREAERs from 1988 are available on IMF eLibrary, and cumulative data from each annual report dating back to 1999 are available in a single online database, AREAER Online (see below). The 2015 AREAER includes a print version of the Overview and key summary tables and a CD that includes 191 individual country chapters.