IFS Yearbook Expands Country and Data Coverage

• Pages: 265

Page 265

The 1997 edition of the International Financial Statistics (IFS) Yearbook has widened country and data coverage to include three new country pages and national statistics on the international investment position and on the labor market.

New Features

The 1997 IFS Yearbook includes data for 163 countries, including IMF member countries and associated territories. The three countries added this year are Albania, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. In 1996, data were added for seven new countries-Cambodia, Croatia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, and Ukraine.

The IFS Yearbook also presents three major changes in the balance of payments section:

* International investment position data are included for the first time. A country's international investment position is a balance sheet of its external financial assets and liabilities.

* Within the balance of payments accounts, portfolio investment now includes subcategories for equity and debt securities, and other investment is now broken down by sector (monetary authorities, general government, banks, and other sectors).

* The item "liabilities constituting foreign authorities' reserves" has been eliminated from the presentation. Figures previously shown under this heading are now reclassified under portfolio investment liabilities and other investment liabilities, according to the subcomponents previously contained in liabilities constituting foreign authorities' reserves.

Also new in the 1997 IFS Yearbook are labor market statistics, included in the country sections on prices, production, and labor. Data comprise series on the labor force, employment, unemployment, and unemployment rate. Data for these time series are provided by the International Labor Organization.

Main Features of IFS...