Everybody on the inside knows that the IMF’s Article IV consultations are basically a group project written by the IMF, Treasury and the RBA. It’s no surprise, then, that this year’s Article IV Concluding Statement on Australia reads like something straight out the Treasury’s/RBA’s playbook and gives the Australian economy a clean bill of health:
A Concluding Statement describes the preliminary findings of IMF staff at the end of an official staff visit (or ‘mission’), in most cases to a member country. Missions are undertaken as part of regular (usually annual) consultations under Article IV of the IMF’s Articles of Agreement, in the context of a request to use IMF resources (borrow from the IMF), as part of discussions of staff monitored programs, or as part of other staff monitoring of economic developments.
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