International Monetary Fund

APD Regional Economic Outlook (REO) provides information on recent economic developments and prospects for countries in Asia and Pacific. Data for the REO for Asia and Pacific is prepared in conjunction with the semi-annual World Economic Outlook (WEO) exercises, spring and fall. Data are consistent with the projections underlying the WEO. REO aggregate data may differ from WEO aggregates due to differences in group membership. Composite data for country groups are weighted averages of data for individual countries. Arithmetic weighted averages are used for all concepts except for inflation and broad money, for which geometric averages are used. PPP GDP weights from the WEO database are used for the aggregation of real GDP growth, real non-oil GDP growth, real per capita GDP growth, investment, national savings, broad money, claims on the nonfinancial private sector, and real and nominal effective exchange rates. Aggregates for other concepts are weighted by GDP in U.S. dollars at market exchange rates.

Data cited at: Balance of Payments(BOP) and International Investment Position(IIP), World and Regional Aggregates, The International Monetary Fund BOPSY Global Tables aggregate country data by major balance of payments components and by international investment position (IIP) data for (i) Net IIP and (ii) Total Assets and Total Liabilities. Data for countries, country groups, and the world are provided. In addition to data reported by countries as shown in BOPSY, balance of payments data are provided for international organizations in BOPSY Global Tables. The BOPSY Global Tables include, in addition to reported data, data derived in a few instances indirectly from published sources.

Data cited at: Consumer price indexes, The International Monetary Fund Consumer price indexes (CPIs) are index numbers that measure changes in the prices of goods and services purchased or otherwise acquired by households, which households use directly, or indirectly, to satisfy their own needs and wants. In practice, most CPIs are calculated as weighted averages of the percentage price changes for a specified set, or ‘‘basket’’, of consumer products, the weights reflecting their relative importance in household consumption in some period. CPIs are widely used to index pensions and social security benefits. CPIs are also used to index other payments, such as interest payments or rents, or the prices of bonds. CPIs are also commonly used as a proxy for the general rate of inflation, even though they measure only consumer inflation. They are used by some governments or central banks to set inflation targets for purposes of monetary policy. The price data collected for CPI purposes can also be used to compile other indices, such as the price indices used to deflate household consumption expenditures in national accounts, or the purchasing power parities used to compare real levels of consumption in different countries.

Global growth is forecast at 3.5 percent in 2015 and 3.8 percent in 2016, with uneven prospects across the main countries and regions of the world. The distribution of risks to near-term global growth has become more balanced relative to the October World Economic Outlook but is still tilted to the downside. The decline in oil prices could boost activity more than expected. Geopolitical tensions continue to pose threats, and risks of disruptive shifts in asset prices remain relevant. In some advanced economies, protracted low inflation or deflation also pose risks to activity. The chapter takes a region-by-region look at the recent development in the world economy and the outlook for 2015, with particular attention to notable development in countries within each region.

The Historical Public Debt Database contains unbalanced panel data on Gross Domestic Product, Gross Government Debt, and Gross Government Debt-to-GDP Ratio for 187 countries. The series spans the years 1800 through 2015 although each country’s data depends on its date of independence and data availability. The database was constructed by bringing together a number of other datasets and information from original sources. For the most recent years, the data are linked to the IMF World Economic Outlook (WEO) database to facilitate regular updates.

The latest World Economic Outlook reports stable but underwhelming global growth, with the balance of risks tilted to the downside. As monetary policy is eased amid continued disinflation, shifting gears is needed to ensure that fiscal policy is on a sustainable path and to rebuild fiscal buffers. Understanding the role of monetary policy in recent global disinflation, and the factors that influence the social acceptability of structural reforms, will be key to promoting stable and more rapid growth in the future.

The IMF’s World Revenue Longitudinal Data set (WoRLD) is a compilation of government tax and non-tax revenues from the IMF’s Government Finance Statistics and World Economic Outlook, and drawing on the OECD Revenue Statistics and Revenue Statistics in Latin American and the Caribbean.