IMF Executive Board discusses making independent Evaluation Office operational

• Pages: 273-274

Page 273

In a press release issued on August 18, the IMF Executive Board announced that on August 3 it had discussed making the independent Evaluation Office operational (see Press Release No. 00/27) and agreed to the publication of the background paper that provided the basis for the discussion, as well as the Chairman’s concluding remarks.

Executive Directors welcomed the paper by the Evaluation Group of the Executive Board and considered that the proposals were an important step forward in making the IMF’s independent Evaluation Office operational. The Executive Board will be reporting on the establishment of the Evaluation Office to the Board of Governors at the Prague Annual Meetings in September. Executive Directors expect the office to be operational before the spring 2001 meeting of the International Monetary and Financial Committee in Washington. They viewed the Evaluation Office as an important complement to the overall review and evaluation work undertaken in the IMF and believe that it will enable the institution to better absorb lessons for improvements in its future work.

Edited excerpts from IMF Managing Director Horst Köhler’s concluding remarks follow. The full text and Press Release Nos. 00/27 and 00/49 and the background paper are available on the IMF’s website (www.imf.org).

“A key consideration in the discussion was how to ensure that the work of the Evaluation Office would fully support the Executive Board’s oversight role and contribute to transparency and the learning culture in the IMF. Various views were expressed on the nature of the evaluations to be undertaken and on the relation between the office’sPage 274 work and the other review and evaluation work undertaken by the IMF. Directors considered that the office should primarily cover issues related to general policies and their implementation, comparative cross-country analyses, and completed country operations. At the same time, there is broad agreement that the office must avoid interfering with ongoing operational activities or micromanaging responsibilities in the institution. Policies and procedures under active discussion in the IMF and current IMF programs would not, therefore, be appropriate areas for the office’s evaluation. As the office becomes fully operational and gains some initial experience, this issue will become clearer and will be reviewed...