Annual Report on Exchange Arrangements and Exchange Restrictions

Only the IMF is officially responsible for reporting the foreign exchange arrangements, exchange and trade restrictions, and prudential measures of its 185 member countries.Among international financial institutions, only the IMF is officially responsible for reporting the foreign exchange arrangements, exchange and trade restrictions, and relevant prudential measures of each of its 185 member countries, along with entries for Hong Kong SAR (People's Republic of China) and Aruba and Netherlands Antilles (Kingdom of the Netherlands).Published since 1950, this authoritative, annually updated reference is based upon a unique IMF-maintained database that tracks monetary exchange arrangements for its members, including historical information. ""The Annual Report on Exchange Arrangements and Exchange Restrictions (AREAER)"" draws upon information available to the IMF from a number of sources, including that provided in the course of official staff visits to member countries.An introduction to the volume provides a summary of recent global trends and developments in the areas covered by the publication. In response to the recent global trend of surges in capital inflows, it also provides insight into the types of capital controls most frequently used by countries dealing with increased capital inflows. Individual chapters for each member country report exchange measures in place, the structure and setting of exchange rates, arrangements for payments and receipts, procedures for resident and nonresident accounts, mechanisms for import and export payments and receipts, controls on capital transactions, and provisions specific to the financial sector. A separate section in each chapter lists changes made during 2006 and the first half of 2007. Information is presented in a clear, easy-to-read tabular format.Users of the ""2007 AREAER"" benefit from a number of recent changes in structure and content aimed at providing a more accurate and updated description of the regulatory framework for current and capital account transactions.This edition provides details on repatriation and surrender requirements by introducing two subcategories - ""Surrender to the central bank"" and ""Surrender to authorized dealers"" - in the category ""Surrender requirement."" These provide more information about the obligations imposed on residents with foreign exchange receipts.Two new categories, ""Repatriation requirement"" and ""Surrender requirement"" in the section on ""Capital Transactions,"" provide information on such requirements on residents' foreign exchange receipts from capital transactions.There has been a reclassification of exchange arrangements of countries in currency unions to reflect the behavior of the common currency.