This October 2015 issue of International Financial Statistics (IFS) is a standard source of statistics on all aspects of international and domestic finance. IFS publish, for most countries of the world, current data on exchange rates, international liquidity, international banking, money and banking, interest rates, prices, production, international transactions (including balance of payments and international investment position), government finance, and national accounts. The notes to the country tables in the monthly issues provide information about exceptions in the choice of the consumer price index and the period average exchange rate index. Since January 1, 1981, the value of the SDR has been determined based on the currencies of the five member countries having the largest exports of goods and services during the five-year period ending one year before the date of the latest revision to the valuation basket.

This August 2015 issue of International Financial Statistics (IFS) is a standard source of statistics on all aspects of international and domestic finance. The report also presents country newly reporting monetary data for Israel using the standardized report forms. IFS is a standard source of statistics on all aspects of international and domestic finance. The IMF publishes calculated effective exchange rates data only for countries that have given their approval. From July 1978 to December 1980, the composition of the basket was changed based on updated data for 1972–1976. The weights of some currencies were also changed. The amount of each of the 16 currencies in the revised basket was such as to ensure that the value of the SDR in terms of any currency on June 30, 1978 was the same in the revised valuation as in the previous valuation.

This July 2015 issue of International Financial Statistics (IFS) is a standard source of statistics on all aspects of international and domestic finance. This issue contains country pages for Marshall Islands, Palau, and Tuvalu. IFS contain country tables for most IMF members, as well as for Anguilla, Aruba, the Central African Economic and Monetary Community, Curaçao, the currency union of Curaçao and Sint Maarten, the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union, the euro area, Montserrat, the former Netherlands Antilles, Sint Maarten, the West African Economic Monetary Union, West Bank and Gaza, and some non-sovereign territorial entities for which statistics are provided internationally on a separate basis. Also, selected series are drawn from the country tables and published in area and world tables. 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 Fund accounts, international reserves, and international trade, are drawn from the country tables and published in world tables as well.

This monthly issue of International Financial Statistics (IFS) is a standard source of statistics on all aspects of international and domestic finance. Information is presented in tables for specific countries and in tables for area and world aggregates. Quarterly issues of this publication provide, for 160 countries, tables with current data (or estimates) on the value of imports from and exports to their most important trading partners. In addition, similar summary tables for the world, industrial countries, and developing countries are included. The yearbook provides, for the most recent seven years, detailed trade data by country for approximately 184 countries, the world, and major areas. This annual publication provides detailed data on transactions in revenue, expense, net acquisition of assets and liabilities, other economic flows, and balances of assets and liabilities of general government and its subsectors. The data are compiled according to the framework of the 2001 Government Finance Statistics Manual, which provides for several summary measures of government fiscal performance. 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.

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.

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.

This October 2016 issue of International Financial Statistics (IFS) is a standard source of statistics on all aspects of international and domestic finance. This issue presents countries newly reporting monetary data for Rwanda using the standardized report forms. Exchange rates in IFS are classified into three broad categories, reflecting the role of the authorities in determining the rates and/or the multiplicity of the exchange rates in a country. Although the method of calculating the US dollar/SDR exchange rate has remained the same, the currencies’ number and weight have changed over time. Their amount in the SDR basket is reviewed every five years. When a country joins the IMF, it is assigned a quota that fits into the structure of existing quotas. Quotas are considered in the light of the member’s economic characteristics and considering quotas of similar countries.

The 2007–09 international financial crisis underscored the importance of reliable and timely statistics on the general government and public sectors. Government finance statistics are a basis for fiscal analysis and they play a vital role in developing and monitoring sound fiscal programs and in conducting surveillance of economic policies. The Government Finance Statistics Manual 2014 represents a major step forward in clarifying the standards for compiling and presenting fiscal statistics and strengthens the worldwide effort to improve public sector reporting and transparency.

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.

Over the past two decades, many low- and lower-middle income countries (LLMICs) have improved control over fiscal policy, liberalized and deepened financial markets, and stabilized inflation at moderate levels. Monetary policy frameworks that have helped achieve these ends are being challenged by continued financial development and increased exposure to global capital markets. Many policymakers aspire to move beyond the basics of stability to implement monetary policy frameworks that better anchor inflation and promote macroeconomic stability and growth. Many of these LLMICs are thus considering and implementing improvements to their monetary policy frameworks. The recent successes of some LLMICs and the experiences of emerging and advanced economies, both early in their policy modernization process and following the global financial crisis, are valuable in identifying desirable features of such frameworks. This paper draws on those lessons to provide guidance on key elements of effective monetary policy frameworks for LLMICs.