Detailed annual data for Fund member governments are supplied on revenue income by source (tax, lending, bonds, etc.), and expenditure by sector (defense, education, health, etc.) for all levels of government (national, state, local). Topics covered include deficit/surplus or total financing, revenues or grants, expenditures, lending minus repayments, domestic financing, foreign financing, domestic debt or total debt, and foreign debt. The Yearbook provides data on budgetary operations, extra-budgetary operations, social security, and consolidated financial operations of central governments. A section of the Government Finance Statistics Yearbook is devoted to a cross-country comparison of data.

The IMF Government Finance Statistics contains statistical data on government financial operations for 156 countries. Where reported, the database contains time series from 1990 onwards using the Government Finance Statistics Manual 2001 (GFSM 2001) framework. The statistics, issued quarterly, are updated as new data are received and time series become available. These time series present combined statistics on revenue, expense, transactions in non-financial assets, and financial assets and liabilities, as well as on stocks of assets and liabilities of general government and its subsectors.

The IMF Government Finance Statistics contains statistical data on government financial operations for 156 countries. Where reported, the database contains time series from 1990 onwards using the Government Finance Statistics Manual 2001 (GFSM 2001) framework. The statistics, issued quarterly, are updated as new data are received and time series become available. These time series present combined statistics on revenue, expense, transactions in non-financial assets, and financial assets and liabilities, as well as on stocks of assets and liabilities of general government and its subsectors.

The 2007–09 international financial crisis underscored the importance of reliable and timely statistics on the general government and public sectors. Government finance statistics are a basis for fiscal analysis and they play a vital role in developing and monitoring sound fiscal programs and in conducting surveillance of economic policies. The Government Finance Statistics Manual 2014 represents a major step forward in clarifying the standards for compiling and presenting fiscal statistics and strengthens the worldwide effort to improve public sector reporting and transparency.

Detailed annual data for Fund member governments are supplied on revenue income by source (tax, lending, bonds, etc.), and expenditure by sector (defense, education, health, etc.) for all levels of government (national, state, local). Topics covered include deficit/surplus or total financing, revenues or grants, expenditures, lending minus repayments, domestic financing, foreign financing, domestic debt or total debt, and foreign debt. The Yearbook provides data on budgetary operations, extra-budgetary operations, social security, and consolidated financial operations of central governments. A section of the Government Finance Statistics Yearbook is devoted to a cross-country comparison of data.

Detailed annual data for Fund member governments are supplied on revenue income by source (tax, lending, bonds, etc.), and expenditure by sector (defense, education, health, etc.) for all levels of government (national, state, local). Topics covered include deficit/surplus or total financing, revenues or grants, expenditures, lending minus repayments, domestic financing, foreign financing, domestic debt or total debt, and foreign debt. The Yearbook provides data on budgetary operations, extra-budgetary operations, social security, and consolidated financial operations of central governments. A section of the Government Finance Statistics Yearbook is devoted to a cross-country comparison of data.

The demand for high quality detailed public finance statistics covering a globally representative sample of countries has increased dramatically during the recent financial crisis. Due to the complexity of public finance statistics, however, such data tend to be either available in oversimplified high level aggregates and lacking in methodological transparency, or, available with a great level of detail and a unified methodological approach yet overly complicated to understand. The IMF’s Government Finance Statistics Yearbook shows fiscal data of around 140 countries following the Government Finance Statistics Manual 2001 framework. The associated database includes data series covering over an almost 40 year period. The IMF's Statistics Department embarked on several initiatives to improve its accessibility.