Cross-border payments are expensive, slow, and opaque. These problems reflect multiple frictions, many of which boil down to limited trust among counterparties. Trust plays a central role in exchanging credit-based money. End users need to trust the issuers of money, and issuers must trust users to satisfy financial integrity requirements. Transactions are possible only where trust links exist. Interoperability between different forms of money can thus be conceptualized as the network of trusted links necessary for transactions. Traditionally, across borders, trust links involve exclusive bilateral credit relationships among correspondent banks. However, the fixed costs required to build these links foster an expensive and concentrated system. This paper interprets different payment arrangements in terms of the implied trust structures. It discusses how the tokenization of money alters trust links and allows for a potentially more efficient market structure to exchange money. The paper ends with a suggested global marketplace to trade tokenized money directly across borders.

This Note explores the design and governance of platforms to enhance cross-border payments in line with public policy goals. While much innovation in recent years has more narrowly targeted end-user frictions, the vision in this paper is based on the mandate of the IMF, governed by the central banks and finance ministries of 190 member countries. Cross-border payments present the foundation for the global financial system, and its functioning is overseen by the IMF.

Behind productive and prosperous economies are independent central banks that implement effective monetary policies. This observation is especially valid for the G20, which comprises the world’s top twenty economies in terms of gross domestic product and the largest stakeholders of the global economic system. These economies include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union. Three features of this book, which focuses on central banking and monetary policy in the G20, an intergovernmental platform, stand out: Firstly, as contemporary theories and global practices confirm, the main purpose of central banks is to ensure monetary and price stability, not despite the government but in cooperation with it. This principle is strongly emphasized here. Governments, which must maintain fiscal discipline, are key to the success of central banks in combating inflation and deflation. Secondly, since the authors of the book chapters come from various countries and academic institutions, the book offers a range of perspectives and intellectual richness. Without deviating from the book's main axis, the authors examine the changing paradigms in central banking and the increasing challenges of monetary policy. This examination is based on developed and emerging economies, integrations, financial organizations, and economic crises within the G20, informed by significant sources. Thirdly, this book offers university researchers, professional business practitioners, and curious readers the opportunity to explore and reflect on new concepts such as green central banking, digital money, and interest-free monetary policies, which have gained prominence in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic, alongside mainstream topics. It is hoped that this book, consisting of 14 chapters, will inspire those who wish to conduct new and renewed academic studies on global central banks and monetary policies and will fill a gap in the literature.

The fifth edition of Balance of Payments Manual, issued in 1993, presents revised and updated standards for concepts, definitions, classifications, and conventions for compilation of balance of payments and international investment position statistics that reflect the widespread changes that have taken place in international transactions since the fouth edition was published in 1977. As the international standard, the Manual serves as a guide for IMF member countries that regularly report balance of payments data to the IMF. The Manual contains significantly expanded and restructured coverage of financial flows and stocks and international transactions in services. Harmonization with the System of National Accounts and other IMF statistical systems is also greatly increased. See also companion volumes, the Balance of Payments Compilation Guide and the Balance of Payments Textbook.

This paper discusses the impact of the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in the financial sector. It highlights the benefits these technologies bring in terms of financial deepening and efficiency, while raising concerns about its potential in widening the digital divide between advanced and developing economies. The paper advances the discussion on the impact of this technology by distilling and categorizing the unique risks that it could pose to the integrity and stability of the financial system, policy challenges, and potential regulatory approaches. The evolving nature of this technology and its application in finance means that the full extent of its strengths and weaknesses is yet to be fully understood. Given the risk of unexpected pitfalls, countries will need to strengthen prudential oversight.

A companion document to the fifth edition of the Balance of Payments Manual, the Balance of Payments Compilation Guide shows how the conceptual framework described in the Manual may be implemented in practice. The primary purpose of the Guide is to provide practical guidance for using sources and methods to compile statistics on the balance of payments and the international investment position. the Guide is designed to assist balance of payments compilers and statisticians in understanding the relative strengths and weaknesses of various approaches. The material reflects the emergence of new data sources and adaptations in the application of statistical methodologies to changing circumstances. Discussed in the Guide are all of the tasks that a BOP compiler normally performs. Appendices contain a set of model BOP questionnaires and a set of model BOP publication tables. Relationships between the balance of payments statistics and relevant aspects of national accounts are covered as well.