Volatile capital flows played a key role in the recent crisis both in increasing vulnerabilities and in transmitting shocks across borders, and it was necessary to enhance the role of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on cross- border capital flows supervision, the IMF said on Wednesday.

Considering the IMF's mandate to oversee international monetary stability, IMF's executive directors had agreed with the need to strengthen the IMF's role regarding international capital flows, the Washington-based agency said in a statement.

"Capital flows have grown to dominate international transactions for many countries, notably amongst advanced economies but also increasingly for emerging markets. They are therefore a central feature of the international monetary system, the stability of which lies at the core of the IMF's mandate," noted the statement.

IMF's executive directors called for further work to advance in bilateral and multilateral surveillance and policy advice for member countries, based on extensive analytical work and taking into account country-specific circumstances and relevant experiences.

They stressed that substantial analytical work was needed to develop a coherent IMF view and inform policy guidance on capital flows.

People's Daily