IMF
The International Monetary Fund has corrected an embarrassing error that led to the publication of exaggerated estimates of the external debt levels of crisis-hit eastern European states.
In its latest Global Financial Stability Report, published in April, the IMF provided key numbers on 38 selected emerging market countries, including their 2009 external debt refinancing needs as a ratio of their foreign exchange reserves.
But after the numbers for some countries were challenged by central bankers, analysts and journalists, the IMF revised the data and began publishing new figures for the external debt/reserves ratios of some eastern European countries.
The ratio for the Czech Republic was cut from 236 per cent to 89 per cent and Estonia’s was reduced to 132 per cent from 210 per cent. It is understood the figure for Ukraine is also being cut to 116 per cent from 208 per cent, that Lithuania’s ratio of 425 per cent may also be recalculated and that others may follow.
The IMF said on Wednesday it would verify its numbers and publish correct figures on its website as soon as they were available. “We regret any confusion that may have arisen as a result of our publication of erroneous figures.”
The fund added that it was now reviewing “how the errors occurred” and would “amend the IMF’s internal procedures according to the lessons learned”.
The error for the Czech Republic occurred because of “a data entry error”, the fund said. In other cases, short-term debt repayments were “inadvertently double-counted”.{...}
So, along with the data entry errors, it would appear as if some brainiac at the IMF pulled an Oliver Wendell Jones* and forgot to carry the two.
I'm sure all the eastern European countries whose bond ratings probably hit a new low over the past couple of weeks due to this erroneous data are beyond thankful they're held responsible for their financial statements by a group that can't even do the math right.
Maybe it's not as bad as it seems, though. At least the IMF didn't black out the existence of flightless water fowl with their errors.*
Tag the reference. If you can. I triple-dog-dare you!
