The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board concluded the 2026 Comprehensive Surveillance Review, setting three priorities for surveillance: more tailored and integrated advice to support resilience and growth, broader analysis of external imbalances and spillovers, and stronger risk assessments with contingent policy advice. The review responds to more frequent shocks, elevated debt and structural shifts from digitalization, artificial intelligence, geoeconomic fragmentation, climate change and demographic change, while reaffirming the 2012 Integrated Surveillance Decision as the overarching framework. Surveillance will become more selective and risk based, with the macrocriticality criterion guiding coverage in bilateral reviews and new guidelines shaping institutional engagement in nontraditional policy areas. The IMF plans more agile and continuous surveillance, closer integration of bilateral and multilateral work with capacity development, stronger regional engagement and gradual use of artificial intelligence tools under governance and oversight. The review also calls for streamlined Article IV reporting requirements and longer Article IV cycles for countries with IMF supported programs. Policy advice should be more specific, actionable and adapted to countries’ institutional capacity, political economy and distributional effects. Monetary policy analysis should avoid mechanical or normative benchmarks for the policy path, while risk analysis should focus on threats that could materially change baseline recommendations and use quantitative scenarios where feasible. Implementation will include revised surveillance guidance and a Policy Recommendation Assessment System to track implementation, bottlenecks and continuity of advice, with the next comprehensive review planned in five years.
International Monetary Fund Executive Board sets three priorities to strengthen and modernize surveillance
The International Monetary Fund Executive Board set three priorities for surveillance: more tailored policy advice, stronger external sector and spillover analysis, and improved risk assessments with contingent recommendations. Surveillance will become more selective, agile and integrated, supported by clearer macrocriticality standards and gradual use of artificial intelligence tools with guardrails. Revised guidance and a new assessment system will support implementation and track policy follow through.