Chile Central Bank Transparency Code Review

The Central Bank of Chile (CBC) has implemented broadly advanced transparency practices. This reflects the CBC’s strong public commitment to transparency, which is anchored in the law and has been designated by the CBC as a strategic objective to fulfill its mandate. This policy has earned the CBC the broad trust of its stakeholders and has paid significant dividends for the CBC in terms of safeguarding its autonomy and ensuring its policy effectiveness.

The Bank of Canada (BOC) sets a high benchmark for transparency, which is recognized by its stakeholders, thus maintaining a high level of trust and accountability. The BOC’s transparency practices are broadly aligned with expanded and comprehensive practices as defined by the IMF Central Bank Transparency Code (see Table 1). This is acknowledged by the BOC’s external stakeholders, who view the central bank as an open, dynamic, and transparent public institution.

This paper reports to the Executive Board on the outcomes of the Central Bank Transparency Code (CBT) pilot reviews. The pilot CBT reviews helped central banks evaluate their transparency practices and strengthen dialogue with external stakeholders. The CBT pilots provided valuable information on the resources required for the reviews going forward. Staff will continue to offer CBT reviews to the rest of the membership. The staff will report back to the Board in FY2026 on the progress of the CBT reviews and an update to the Code following five years of implementation.

This document provides guidance and practical suggestions for conducting reviews of the Central Bank Transparency Code (CBT) to IMF staff and experts conducting reviews, as well as to the central banks participating or intending to participate in the CBT review.

This paper focuses on key findings of the Detailed Assessment of Observance of the IMF Code of Good Practices on Transparency in Monetary and Financial Policies on Chile. The assessment reveals a high degree of compliance with the Transparency Code, including in the objectives and responsibilities of the central bank. The target and instrument autonomy of the Central Bank of Chile is strong by virtue of being enshrined in the constitution. The process for monetary policy formulation, implementation, and communication is highly transparent.

The Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM) has implemented expanded and comprehensive transparency practices in a number of areas, notably related to the primary mandate of price stability and the shared mandate of financial stability. This reflects the BAM’s public commitment to transparency anchored in the new 2019 BAM Law and articulated as a strategic orientation under the quinquennial plan for 2019-2023. This level of transparency enabled the BAM to gain the noteworthy trust of the stakeholders met by the mission and to safeguard its autonomy.

The paper reports to the Executive Board on its decision of April 29, 2019, to prepare an IMF Central Bank Transparency Code (CBT), which is linked to the 2017 Review of the Standards and Codes Initiative (RSCI), for a revision and update of the 1999 Monetary and Financial Policies Transparency Code (MFPT). Directors asked that the CBT should remove the overlap on financial policies covered by other international standards, expand the transparency standards to broader set of activities undertaken by many central banks since the 2008 financial crisis, and reorient the transparency standards to facilitate risk-based assessments to support policy effectiveness and address macroeconomic risks.

The paper responds to a request made by the Executive Board at the time of the 2017 Review of the Standards and Codes Initiative (RSCI) for a revision and update of the 1999 Monetary and Financial Policies Transparency Code (MFPT). Directors asked staff that the new code remove the overlap on financial policies covered by other standards, expand the transparency standards to broader set of activities undertaken by many central banks since the Global Financial Crisis, and reorient the transparency standards to facilitate risk-based assessments to support policy effectiveness and address macroeconomic risks.