International Financial Statistics (IFS): How to use it

International Financial Statistics (IFS) database is part of  the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) eLibrary Data.

IFS is a standard source of international statistics on all aspects of international and domestic finance. It reports, for most countries of the world, current data needed in the analysis of problems of international payments and of inflation and deflation, i.e., data on exchange rates, international liquidity, international banking, money and banking, interest rates, prices, production, international transactions, government accounts, and national accounts.

The IFS database contains time series data since 1948. The user can browse the database, select series of interest, display the selected series in charts and tables.

Series may include the following (not all series are available for all countries): Exchange Rate; Fund Position; International Liquidity: Monetary Authorities: Banking Institutions; Banking Survey; Deposit Money Banks; Monetary Survey; Interest Rates; Prices, Production, and Labor; International Transactions and Positions; Balance of Payments; International Investment Position; Government Finance; National Accounts; Population.

Approximately 32,000 time series covering 200 countries and areas are included. The information can be presented in customized tables and charts.

• Balance of Payments Statistics - these data are composed of international economic transactions covering total goods, services, factor income, and current transfers an economy received from or provides to the rest of the world. Also included are capital transfers and changes in each economy’s external financial claims and liabilities. Tables feature area and world totals of balance of payments components and aggregates. BOP data are updated monthly.
• Direction of Trade Statistics - DOT statistics include the value of merchandise exports and imports between each country and all its trading partners. Total bilateral and multilateral exports and imports aggregated at national or regional group level, and data for the most recent 6 quarters and the latest year for 169 countries, and 10 quarters and 5 years for the world and area tables.
• Government Finance Statistics - GFS contains statistical data on government financial operations for 145 countries. Time series data, when available, is presented quarterly and includes combined statistics on revenue, expenses, transactions in nonfinancial assets and financial assets and liabilities as well as for stocks of assets and liabilities of general government and its subsectors.