Safeguarding Fund Resources 16. Almost all program countries fulfil their obligations under Fund supported arrangements, and cases of misreporting of information and misuses of Fund resources have been rare. However, we take every case of misreporting and misuse very seriously since they can severely impair the Fund's relations to its member countries and may have a damaging impact on the Fund's public appearance. Against this background we welcome the Fund's decision to implement safeguard assessments for all program countries on an experimental basis which are intended to avoid ex ante the emergence of those problems. Furthermore, we support recent agreements on strengthening the legal framework with regard to misreporting to the Fund.
Surveillance continues to be the key to crises prevention.
We therefore welcome the progress being achieved in strengthening the Fund's surveillance, especially with respect to a deeper analysis of exchange rate policies, financial sector stability, capital account issues, and the vulnerability to financial crises. In our view, it is also important that surveillance covers structural issues if the case can be made that they have a significant impact on macroeconomic and financial stability. We welcome the ongoing initiatives in such important areas as the development and implementation of standards and codes, financial sector assessment programs, and financial sector stability assessments, as well as debt and reserve management practices. A decision on the extent to which these initiatives can be integrated into the Fund's regular surveillance activities should be taken in due time. All member countries should be encouraged to adopt relevant codes and standards.