Multilateral Consultations are a new tool of multilateral surveillance for the IMF, designed to foster action-oriented debate and policy actions on a problem of systemic or regional importance. The first multilateral consultation focused on facilitating the resolution of global imbalances while...

Effective Fund surveillance over the members of currency unions entails discussions at the regional level. This requirement derives from the fact that currency union members have devolved responsibility for policy areas that are central to Fund surveillance, notably monetary and exchange rate...

The SDR has enjoyed renewed attention lately in the context of debates on international monetary reform. To be sure, the term SDR has been used to refer to three different concepts-(i) a composite reserve asset created in 1969: the 'official SDR' as defined in the Fund's Articles; (ii) a...

This paper addresses three questions about unconventional monetary policies. First, what policies were tried, and with what objectives? Second, were policies effective? And third, what role might these policies continue to play in the future?

The broader governance reform debate-which goes beyond quotas to issues such as engagement by high-level policymakers, Fund management selection, Board structure, rules and accountability-has not got very far in garnering a consensus at the Executive Board. This is the case even though, in...

The three-month Eurepo interest rate, the euro component of the SDR interest rate basket, will be discontinued as of the end of 2014. The three-month Eurepo rate, administered by the European Money Market Institute (EMMI), has been the representative interest rate instrument of the euro area in...

This paper provides background information to the main Board paper, 'The Role and Limits of Unconventional Monetary Policy.' This paper is divided in five distinct sections, each focused on a different topic covered in the main paper, though most relate to bond purchase programs. As a result,...

This paper focuses on euro area policies. The monetary policy stance remains appropriate for now. Fiscal policies are falling well short of consolidation requirements, and the area remains insufficiently prepared for the looming demographic shock. Past fiscal policy failures, notably...

These Technical Notes on France explain integration of global financial markets. The stress tests for the France Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) were designed to yield as comprehensive and detailed a picture as possible within the constraints of the approach. Retail activity by...

Forward-looking behavior on the part of the monetary authority leads least squares estimates to understate the true growth consequences of monetary policy interventions. We present instrumental variables estimates of the impact of interest rates on real output growth for several European...