PwC's Managing upstream risk: Regulatory reform review - An asian perspective October 2013 | Page 4

1. Editorial

IMF in its 2013 Annual Report noted that the
“global economy is in better shape, but the
road to a robust and comprehensive recovery
remains bumpy”. The report highlights the
IMF’s work work between 1 May 2012 and 30
April 2013, with an emphasis on the core areas
of IMF responsibility – providing IMF member
countries with financing for demonstrated
needs, assessing their economic and financial
policies, and developing their technical
capacities. Key findings of the report are
summarised as follows:
• IMF financing continued to be an important
source of support for member countries
during the year, as the effects of the global
financial crisis persisted and some countries
in the euro area remained vulnerable.
• During the year, the IMF took steps
to reform its core responsibility of
surveillance—its oversight of member
countries’ economic and financial policies
—according to priorities identified in a

4

Regulatory Reform Review | Editorial

triennial review conducted in 2011. Most
notable was a decision on bilateral and
multilateral surveillance adopted in July
2012, to better integrate IMF monitoring
of the global economy with its oversight of
country economies.
• In the area of capacity building, a new
Institute for Capacity Development was
formed by the integration of two existing IMF
units during the year.

At the G20 meeting held in St Petersburg last
month, the OECD secretary general submitted
a report on the progress of the Global Forum
on Transparency and Exchange of Information.
The Global Forum has now completed 113 peer
review reports covering 98 jurisdictions. The
number of jurisdictions that have committed
to implement the standard and have joined the
Global Forum has grown to 119 and more than
1100 new EOI relationships to the standard have
been put in place. A key output of the reviews
of practice is the assignment of a rating both for