International Monetary Fund

The CDIS database presents detailed data on "inward" direct investment positions (i.e. direct investment into the reporting economy) cross-classified by economy of immediate investor and data on "outward" direct investment positions (i.e. direct investment abroad by the reporting economy) cross-classified by economy of immediate investment. The CDIS database contains breakdowns of direct investment position data including in most instances separate data on net equity and net debt positions as well as tables that present "mirror" data (i.e. tables in which data from the reporting economy are shown side-by-side with the data obtained from all other counterpart reporting economies).

Global growth is forecast at 3.5 percent in 2015 and 3.8 percent in 2016, with uneven prospects across the main countries and regions of the world. The distribution of risks to near-term global growth has become more balanced relative to the October World Economic Outlook but is still tilted to the downside. The decline in oil prices could boost activity more than expected. Geopolitical tensions continue to pose threats, and risks of disruptive shifts in asset prices remain relevant. In some advanced economies, protracted low inflation or deflation also pose risks to activity. The chapter takes a region-by-region look at the recent development in the world economy and the outlook for 2015, with particular attention to notable development in countries within each region.

COFR presents data on fiscal transparency. It provides an overview of fiscal reporting, including whether fiscal data are available for all of the general government, whether the government reports a balance sheet, and whether spending and revenue are reported on a cash or accrual basis. It also derives specific indices of the coverage of public institutions, fiscal flows, and fiscal stocks.

Recent exchange rate movements have been unusually large, triggering a debate regarding their likely effects on trade. Historical experience in advanced and emerging market and developing economies suggests that exchange rate movements typically have sizable effects on export and import volumes. A 10 percent real effective depreciation in an economy’s currency is associated with a rise in real net exports of, on average, 1.5 percent of GDP, with substantial cross-country variation around this average. Although these effects fully materialize over a number of years, much of the adjustment occurs in the first year. The boost to exports associated with currency depreciation is found to be largest in countries with initial economic slack and with domestic financial systems that are operating normally. Some evidence suggests that the rise of global value chains has weakened the relationship between exchange rates and trade in intermediate products used as inputs into other economies’ exports. However, the bulk of global trade still consists of conventional trade, and there is little evidence of a general trend toward disconnect between exchange rates and total exports and imports.

Global Financial Stability Report (GFSR) finds that six years after the start of the crisis, the global economic recovery continues to rely heavily on accommodative monetary policies in advanced economies. Monetary accommodation remains critical in supporting the economy by encouraging economic risk taking in the form of increased real spending by households and greater willingness to invest and hire by businesses. However, prolonged monetary ease may also encourage excessive financial risk taking.

The Historical Public Debt Database contains unbalanced panel data on Gross Domestic Product Gross Government Debt and Gross Government Debt-to-GDP Ratio for 187 countries. The series spans the years 1800 through 2015 although each country’s data depends on its date of independence and data availability. The database was constructed by bringing together a number of other datasets and information from original sources. For the most recent years the data are linked to the IMF World Economic Outlook (WEO) database to facilitate regular updates.

This Dataset Covering 187 countries including most low-income countries, the toolkit provides indicators on export product diversification and export product quality from 1962-2010.

The Government Finance Statistics  http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/gfs/manual/aboutgfs.htm

The FAS is the sole source of global supply-side data on financial inclusion, encompassing internationally-comparable basic indicators of financial access and usage. From 2014, FAS also includes indicators for mobile money. In addition to providing policy makers and researchers with annual geographic and demographic data on access to basic consumer financial services worldwide, the FAS is the data source for the G-20 Basic Set of Financial Inclusion Indicators endorsed by the G-20 at the Los Cabos Summit in 2012.  The FAS database currently contains 152 time series and 47 key indicators which are grouped into two dimensions: (i) geographic outreach of financial services; and (ii) use of financial services. The database includes annual data from 2004 and metadata for the reporting jurisdictions.

The Data Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity is an innovative single framework that integrates the concept of international reserves and foreign currency liquidity by covering data on on-balance-sheet and off-balance-sheet international financial activities of country authorities as well as supplementary information. It aims to provide a comprehensive account of official foreign currency assets and drains on such resources arising from various foreign/domestic currency liabilities and commitments of the authorities.

Re-dissemination of IMF member countries' data on international reserves and foreign currency liquidity in a common template and in a common currency (the U.S. dollar).

Re-dissemination of IMF member countries' data on international reserves and foreign currency liquidity in a common template and in a common currency (the U.S. dollar).

This dataset provides comprehensive data for investment and capital stock for the general government, private sector and public-private partnerships, across the Fund member countries.

Economic developments in the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan (MENAP) continue to reflect the diversity of conditions prevailing across the region. Most high-income oil exporters, primarily in the GCC, continue to record steady growth and solid economic and financial fundamentals, albeit with medium-term challenges that need to be addressed. In contrast, other countries --Iraq, Libya, Syria -- mired in conflicts with not just humanitarian but also economic consequences. And yet other countries, mostly oil importers, are making continued but uneven progress in advancing their economic agenda, often in tandem with political transitions and amidst difficult social conditions. In most of these countries, without extensive economic and structural reforms, economic prospects for the medium term remain insufficient to reduce high unemployment and improve living standards. Economic activity in the Caucasus and Central Asia (CCA) region is weakening, mainly because of the near-term slowdown and rising regional tensions affecting Russia, a key trading partner and sources of remittance and investment inflows, as well as weaker domestic demand in a number of CCA countries. Near-term risks are to the downside and tied to the fortunes of large trading partners. Policies need to focus on bolstering economic stability and, where needed, short-term support to ailing economic growth. In addition, a new model for high, sustained, diversified, and inclusive growth is needed to set the direction for economic policies for the next decade.

Commodity prices have declined sharply over the past three years, and output growth has slowed considerably among those emerging market and developing economies that are net exporters of commodities. A critical question for policymakers in these countries is whether commodity windfall gains and losses influence potential output or merely trigger transient fluctuations of actual output around an unchanged trend for potential output. The analysis in this chapter suggests that both actual and potential output move together with the commodity terms of trade but that actual output commoves twice as strongly as potential output. The weak commodity price outlook is estimated to subtract almost 1 percentage point annually from the average rate of economic growth in commodity exporters over 2015–17 as compared with 2012–14. In exporters of energy commodities, the drag is estimated to be larger: about 2¼ percentage points on average over the same period. The projected drag on the growth of potential output is about one-third of that for actual output.

The IMF’s World Revenue Longitudinal Data set (WoRLD) is a compilation of government tax and non-tax revenues from the IMF’s Government Finance Statistics and World Economic Outlook, and drawing on the OECD Revenue Statistics and Revenue Statistics in Latin American and the Caribbean.