Statistical Terms Glossary

A bond in which the coupon and/or redemption value are linked to the movement in an exchange rate. Examples of these types of bonds were the tesobonos issued by Mexican banks in 1994. These bonds, issued and payable in pesos, had a redemption value linked to the movement in the U.S. dollar/ Mexican peso exchange rate. When the Mexican peso depreciated, the redemption value increased.

The proportion of different currencies borrowed or lent by the Bank.

The medium of exchange in which an individual transaction occurs. It may be currency, goods, or services. The medium of exchange of one transaction (for example, disbursement) does not necessarily determine the medium of exchange of another (for example, repayment).

See option bond.

A system set up by the World Bank to equalize among all borrowers at any time the risks inherent in fluctuations in the exchange rates of the currencies disbursed and repayable on all Bank loans included in the system. Equalization is achieved by pooling all currencies disbursed and outstanding on participating loans and by expressing the outstanding principal amount of each such loan as a share of the pool. As a result, loan-service obligations on each participating loan are related to all amounts in various currencies disbursed and outstanding on all loans in the system.

An index of the daily revaluation factors from the start of the currency pooling system to the present.

Currency pool loans, provided by the World Bank and regional development banks, are multicurrency obligations committed in U.S. dollar-equivalent terms whose currency composition is the same (pooled) for all borrowers.

A system set up by the World Bank to equalize among all borrowers at any time the risks inherent in fluctuations in the exchange rates of the currencies disbursed and repayable on all Bank loans included in the system. Equalization is achieved by pooling all currencies disbursed and outstanding on participating loans and by expressing the outstanding principal amount of each such loan as a share of the pool. As a result, loan-service obligations on each participating loan are related to all amounts in various currencies disbursed and outstanding on all loans in the system.

Option in restructuring agreement which allows banks to redenominate existing loans in their domestic currencies or the ECU.

The unit of account in which amounts are reported either to the compiling agency and/or to an international agency compiling debt statistics.

See: Swaps, cross-currency interest rate

Recording in accounts of assets (or liabilities) in one currency when they are actually in another. No actual exchange of funds takes place. The World Bank and IFC, for example, translate all their assets and liabilities into U.S. dollar amounts, regardless of the actual currency in which they are denominated.

The Bank records its assets and liabilities in U.S. dollars despite the fact that it has assets and liabilities in up to forty-five different currencies. As a result, the value of its assets/liabilities in U.S. dollar terms is liable to fluctuate due to exchange rate movements between the U.S. dollar and other currencies in which it has assets/liabilities. This is the currency translation exposure.

The situation that occurs with the Bank's lending and borrowing policy whereby loans are made in primarily low nominal interest rate currencies while investments are mainly in high nominal interest rate currencies.

Under the new IBRD lending rate system, currency specific cost rates from qualified borrowings will be applied to the amounts in each currency actually outstanding, thereby effectively weighting those rates in each currency by their share in the loan currency pool. These weightings are called currency weights.

See Balance of payments, current account.

Current accounts record the production of goods and services, the generation of incomes by production, the subsequent distribution and redistribution of incomes among institutional units, and the use of incomes for purposes of consumption or saving.

Is the relationship of a person to economic activity, based on a brief reference period such as one week.

Ongoing agricultural statistics on such things as production and prices, as opposed to structural data collected in the agricultural census.

The more liquid assets, which may be readily sold for cash. Goods which have already been produced (such as fingerlings, fish, and feed) may be sold quickly for cash without disrupting on-going production activities.

A rate used by IFC to assist in determining the performance of its loan portfolio, it is based on actual and projected debt-to-equity ratios.

Current cost accounting is a valuation method whereby assets and goods used in production are valued at their actual or estimated current market prices at the time the production takes place (it is sometimes described as “replacement cost accounting")

1. In fixed rate securities, a coupon rate which approximates current yield levels for similar securities. Straight debt securities with current coupons have prices close to par.
2. In floating rate securities, the rate of interest on the current interest period.

Current expenditure by enterprises includes internal operational spending on environmental protection activities including, for example, wages and salaries of people involved with the operation of pollution control equipment and environmental management, leasing payments for environmental equipment, and materials such as air filters and scrubbers. External expenditure such as waste disposal by specialists contractors, waste water treatment, regulatory charges to environmental agencies and so on are also treated as current expenditure whether made by enterprises, government or households.

Expenditure for educational goods and services consumed within the current year and which would have to be renewed if needed in the following year.

The current external balance is the balancing item in the external account of primary income and current transfers