International Monetary Fund (IMF)
The International Monetary Fund is a UN-affiliated organisation established in 1944 and headquartered in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to strengthen financial stability and monetary cooperation, supporting sustainable growth, employment and prosperity. The Fund delivers on this mission through macroeconomic surveillance, financial assistance to countries in need, and technical assistance and training. Poland is one of the IMF’s founding members.
The IMF has three core functions: promoting international monetary cooperation, supporting trade and economic growth, and counteracting policies that threaten economic wellbeing. In practice, the Fund identifies risks and recommends stabilising actions, provides financial support to countries in crisis, and helps public administrations develop sound economic policies.
In statistics, the IMF sets and disseminates global standards for macroeconomic and public finance statistics — including government finance statistics, balance of payments, and monetary and financial statistics. It also develops data dissemination standards (SDDS and e-GDDS) and provides comparable databases such as International Financial Statistics (IFS), the Financial Access Survey (FAS), and results from the CPIS and CDIS surveys. These activities ensure transparency, comparability and timeliness of information, which helps strengthen financial system stability.
Statistics Poland, together with institutions responsible for macroeconomic statistics — including the National Bank of Poland (Narodowy Bank Polski, NBP) and the Ministry of Finance — supplies data to the IMF and applies the Fund’s methodological and data dissemination standards. This ensures that information about Poland is included in the IMF’s global databases and remains comparable with data from other countries.
Why does it matter?
- IMF statistical standards organise the way economies are described and ensure data comparability over time and across countries.
- Data dissemination standards, such as the SDDS, enhance transparency and credibility, strengthening trust among investors, international institutions and the public.
- IMF databases and the annual Article IV consultations — during which countries’ economic policies and financial stability are assessed — support risk evaluation and data-driven economic planning.
- Technical assistance and training help strengthen national institutions’ capacities and improve the quality of statistical methodologies.
Learn more:
- Globalisation and modernisation
- Data integration
- International Monetary Fund (IMF)
- IMF Data
- Data Home
- FAS
- Dataset | International Financial Statistics (IFS) | World Bank Data360
- IMF Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board - SDDS Home Page
- Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board / SDDS
- e-GDDS Home Page
- 11th Statistical Forum of the International Monetary Fund
- Economic and Financial Data for Poland