[stop-imf] IMF First Annual Report on Fund-Related Transparency

[Robert Weissman]

  http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2006/pr0627.htm



  IMF Publishes First Annual Report on Fund-Related Transparency

Press Release No. 06/27
February 7, 2006

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) today released the first annual
report on key trends in the implementation of the IMF's transparency
policy <http://www.imf.org/external/np/pp/eng/2006/013106.pdf>.
Consistent with the IMF's continued effort for greater transparency, the
annual reports will document the state of publication of a wide range of
staff reports, country policy intention documents, and IMF policy papers.

In its 2005 review of the Fund's transparency policy (see Public
Information Notice No. 05/116
<http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pn/2005/pn05116.htm>), the Executive
Board requested regular updates of information on transparency at the
Fund, including publication rates regarding staff reports on bilateral
surveillance and Fund-supported economic programs.

The reports cover publication rates, trends in publication lags and
recourse to deletions, and the publication behavior of members. In 2003,
the Executive Board endorsed the move to a policy of voluntary but
presumed publication for most country reports, in particular all staff
reports on bilateral surveillance and the use of Fund resources (UFR),
and of presumed publication of most policy papers.

This first annual report shows that the publication rate of staff
reports covering Article IV consultations and UFR matters, which were
discussed by the Executive Board between November 2004 and October 2005,
reached 82 percent, up from 78 percent a year earlier. Moreover, 93
percent of all country documents outlining economic programs and 71
percent of all policy papers discussed by the Board in the same period,
were published.