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Abstract
At the end of 1993, one fourth of the 155 developing country members of the IMF were free of restrictions on capital transactions, in the form of either exchange controls on capital movements or restrictions on underlying capital transactions (Table 1). Controls on capital flows appear to have been in place in the rest of the IMF membership to varying degrees. However, definitive statements in this area are difficult because, reflecting the jurisdictional mandate of the IMF, the reporting by members of capital controls is less detailed than that of restrictions on current international payments and transfers. A positive list approach is used by many developing countries so that regulations covering capital transactions permitted freely or subject to an approval process are reported. However, in other countries, capital controls (in the form of either outright prohibitions or provisions on an ad hoc basis) are not specifically reported but are included in a general statement that capital transactions are restricted. The restrictiveness of certain categories of developing countries’ exchange controls on capital is therefore likely to exceed that specifically reported at present.
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