IMF to Increase Amount and Timeliness of Information

The global economic crisis has brought the IMF’s policy advice and analysis into the broader public debate, and this has meant both increased demand for information about the Fund’s work and increased scrutiny of the organization’s assessments and recommendations.

After 10 years of increasing the number and variety of documents it publishes, as part of its review of the Fund’s Transparency Policy on December 17, 2009, the IMF’s Executive Board renewed its commitment to transparency on a broad scale, and changed the focus of "why" information should be disclosed to "why not?"--while maintaining the principle that publication of documents relating to member countries is subject to the consent of the member.

Most country reports produced by IMF staff are now published, with 88 percent of member countries reports publicly available, the IMF said. These reports include requests for funding as well as the annual reviews of member countries’ economic health, commonly known as Article IV reports.

Increasing the amount and timeliness of information

To strengthen its policies and make them more consistent, the IMF’s Executive Board approved a series of changes, which include

- Publication of documents unless a member country objects, shifting the focus away from explicit permission to publish, which was required until the review

- Extending the scope of documents that the country authorities would be encouraged to publish to include reports on the health of a country’s financial sector and its compliance with international codes and standards

- Establishing an expectation, in cases involving Fund lending, that the country authorities would indicate intent to publish before the relevant Executive Board meeting

- Extending presumed publication to all policy...