This paper discusses that for each quarter, the IMF prepares a financial transactions plan, in which it indicates the amounts of particular currencies and SDRs to be used during the relevant period. The IMF selects the currencies of members with strong balance of payments and reserve positions. It also seeks to promote, over time, balanced positions in the IMF. The effects of IMF transactions and operations are summarized in the IMF’s holdings of members’ currencies and in two other measures: reserve position in the IMF, and total IMF credit and loans outstanding. The IMF’s holdings of a member’s currency reflect, among other things, the transactions and operations of the IMF in that currency. This concept is used in calculating the amounts that a member can draw under tranche policies and in respect to certain of its obligations to the IMF.

In 2011 the World Bank—with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—launched the Global Findex database, the world's most comprehensive data set on how adults save, borrow, make payments, and manage risk. Drawing on survey data collected in collaboration with Gallup, Inc., the Global Findex database covers more than 140 economies around the world. The initial survey round was followed by a second one in 2014 and by a third in 2017. Compiled using nationally representative surveys of more than 150,000 adults age 15 and above in over 140 economies, The Global Findex Database 2017: Measuring Financial Inclusion and the Fintech Revolution includes updated indicators on access to and use of formal and informal financial services. It has additional data on the use of financial technology (or fintech), including the use of mobile phones and the Internet to conduct financial transactions. The data reveal opportunities to expand access to financial services among people who do not have an account—the unbanked—as well as to promote greater use of digital financial services among those who do have an account. The Global Findex database has become a mainstay of global efforts to promote financial inclusion. In addition to being widely cited by scholars and development practitioners, Global Findex data are used to track progress toward the World Bank goal of Universal Financial Access by 2020 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The database, the full text of the report, and the underlying country-level data for all figures—along with the questionnaire, the survey methodology, and other relevant materials—are available at www.worldbank.org/globalfindex.

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 paper describes the compilation of the Global Debt Database (GDD), a cutting-edge dataset covering private and public debt for virtually the entire world (190 countries) dating back to the 1950s. The GDD is the result of a multiyear investigative process that started with the October 2016 Fiscal Monitor, which pioneered the expansion of private debt series to a global sample. It differs from existing datasets in three major ways. First, it takes a fundamentally new approach to compiling historical data. Where most debt datasets either provide long series with a narrow and changing definition of debt or comprehensive debt concepts over a short period, the GDD adopts a multidimensional approach by offering multiple debt series with different coverages, thus ensuring consistency across time. Second, it more than doubles the cross-sectional dimension of existing private debt datasets. Finally, the integrity of the data has been checked through bilateral consultations with officials and IMF country desks of all countries in the sample, setting a higher data quality standard.

Financial Soundness Indicators (FSIs) are measures that indicate the current financial health and soundness of a country's financial institutions, and their corporate and household counterparts. FSIs include both aggregated individual institution data and indicators that are representative of the markets in which the financial institutions operate. FSIs are calculated and disseminated for the purpose of supporting macroprudential analysis--the assessment and surveillance of the strengths and vulnerabilities of financial systems--with a view to strengthening financial stability and limiting the likelihood of financial crises. Financial Soundness Indicators: Compilation Guide is intended to give guidance on the concepts, sources, and compilation and dissemination techniques underlying FSIs; to encourage the use and cross-country comparison of these data; and, thereby, to support national and international surveillance of financial systems.

We explore empirically how the time-varying allocation of credit across firms with heterogeneous credit quality matters for financial stability outcomes. Using firm-level data for 55 countries over 1991-2016, we show that the riskiness of credit allocation, captured by Greenwood and Hanson (2013)’s ISS indicator, helps predict downside risks to GDP growth and systemic banking crises, two to three years ahead. Our analysis indicates that the riskiness of credit allocation is both a measure of corporate vulnerability and of investor sentiment. Economic forecasters wrongly predict a positive association between the riskiness of credit allocation and future growth, suggesting a flawed expectations process.

This November 2018 issue of International Financial Statistics (IFS) is a standard source of statistics on all aspects of international and domestic finance. IFS, Balance of Payments Statistics, Direction of Trade Statistics, and Government Finance Statistics are available on CD-ROM by annual subscription. The CD-ROMs incorporate a Windows-based browser facility, as well as a flat file of the database in scientific notation. The country tables normally include data on a country’s exchange rates, IMF position, international liquidity, monetary statistics, interest rates, prices, production, labor, international transactions, government accounts, national accounts, and population. Selected series, including data on IMF accounts, international reserves, and international trade, are drawn from the country tables and published in world tables as well. The monthly printed issue of IFS reports current monthly, quarterly, and annual data, while the yearbook reports 12 observations of annual data. In IFS, exchange rates are expressed in time series of national currency units per SDR and national currency units per US dollar, or vice versa.

The audited consolidated financial statements of the International Monetary Fund as of April 30, 2019 and 2018

This paper discusses that for countries that are members of the euro area, the exchange rates shown are expressed in national currency units per SDR or per US dollar through 1998, and in euros per SDR or per US dollar thereafter. Data on members’ IMF accounts are presented in the Fund Position section in the country tables and in four world tables. Terms and concepts of IMF accounts and the time series in the country and world tables are explained below. When a country joins the IMF, it is assigned a quota that fits into the structure of existing quotas. Quotas are considered in light of the member’s economic characteristics, and take into account quotas of similar countries. The size of the member’s quota determines, among other things, the member’s voting power, the size of its potential access to IMF resources, and its share in allocations of SDRs.

IMF Financial Operations 2018 provides a broad introduction to how the IMF fulfills its mission through its financial activities. It covers the financial structure and operations of the IMF and provides background detail on the financial statements. It reviews the IMF's three main activities: lending, surveillance, and technical assistance.