API structure

Agencies

There are several different IMF agencies from which you can request resources:

unique(unlist(purrr::map(all_agencies_codelists$data$codelists,function (x) x$agency)))

 [1] "SDMX"       "IMF.STA"    "IMF"        "ISORA"      "IMF.RES"   
 [6] "IMF.SPR"    "IMF_STA"    "IMF.STA.DS" "IAEG-SDGs"  "IMF.FAD"   
 [11] "IMF.EUR"    "IMF.MCD"    "SURVEY"     "IMF.APD"    "IMF.WHD"   
 [16] "IMF.MCM"    "IMF.AFR"    "SYSTEM"     "IMF.HRD"

The two main ones seem to be "IMF.STA" and "IMF". In general, resources shared by many datasets seem to live in "IMF", while resources specific to a particular dataset to live in "IMF.STA" or one of the other subagencies.

Dataflows

Most of the "dataflows" (which are basically aggregations of datasets, with their definitions) live in "IMF.STA", but there are a few under other agencies:

all_dataflows <- imf_perform_request("structure/dataflow/all/*/+")[["data"]][["dataflows"]]
table(sapply(all_dataflows,function(x) x$agencyID))

IMF.AFR IMF.APD IMF.FAD IMF.MCD IMF.MCM IMF.RES IMF.STA IMF.WHD   ISORA 
      1       1       5       1       1       9      48       1       3

Codelists

There are codelists under various agencies, with the majority under "IMF.STA", and "IMF" being the next largest grouping:

all_codelists <- imf_perform_request("structure/codelist/all/")[["data"]][["codelists"]]
table(sapply(all_codelists, function(x) x$agencyID))

 IAEG-SDGs        IMF    IMF_STA    IMF.AFR    IMF.APD    IMF.EUR    IMF.FAD 
        17         57          5          3          2          3         17 
   IMF.HRD    IMF.MCD    IMF.MCM    IMF.RES    IMF.SPR    IMF.STA IMF.STA.DS 
         1          3          2         35          9        224         29 
   IMF.WHD      ISORA       SDMX     SURVEY     SYSTEM 
         2          7         10          5          1

The codelists under "IMF" seem to be shared by multiple datasets. Their id field is the dimension name prefixed by "CL_":

imf_codelists <- imf_perform_request("structure/codelist/IMF/")[["data"]][["codelists"]]
sapply(imf_codelists, function(x) x$id)

  [1] "CL_SEX"                   "CL_OVERLAP"              
  [3] "CL_FREQ"                  "CL_HS_2022"              
  [5] "CL_INDEX_TYPE"            "CL_CURRENCY"             
  [7] "CL_METHODOLOGY"           "CL_COFOG"                
  [9] "CL_PUB_LABELS"            "CL_PRICES"               
 [11] "CL_CIVIL_STATUS"          "CL_TRANSACTION_TYPE"     
 [13] "CL_TOPIC"                 "CL_EXRATE"               
 [15] "CL_UNIT_MULT"             "CL_ACCOUNTING_ENTRY"     
 [17] "CL_GFS_STO"               "CL_S_ADJUSTMENT"         
 [19] "CL_FUNCTIONAL_CAT"        "CL_COICOP_1999"          
 [21] "CL_INSTR_ASSET"           "CL_SEC_CLASSIFICATION"   
 [23] "CL_TRANSFORMATION"        "CL_FI_MATURITY"          
 [25] "CL_CLASSIFICATION_TYPE"   "CL_COUNTRY"              
 [27] "CL_DEPARTMENT"            "CL_OBS_STATUS"           
 [29] "CL_ACCOUNTS"              "CL_MFS_INSTR"            
 [31] "CL_ACTIVITY_ISIC4"        "CL_CONTENT_TYPE"         
 [33] "CL_INT_TTC"               "CL_UNIT_VINTAGE"         
 [35] "CL_DECIMALS"              "CL_REPORTING_PERIOD_TYPE"
 [37] "CL_SECTOR"                "CL_FSENTRY"              
 [39] "CL_COMMODITY"             "CL_DERIVATION_TYPE"      
 [41] "CL_STATISTICAL_MEASURES"  "CL_VALUATION"            
 [43] "CL_ACCESS_SHARING_LEVEL"  "CL_NA_STO"               
 [45] "CL_TIME_OF_RECORDING"     "CL_FA_INDICATORS"        
 [47] "CL_INT_ACC_ITEM"          "CL_PUBLISHER_TYPE"       
 [49] "CL_CONF_STATUS"           "CL_ORGANIZATION"         
 [51] "CL_COICOP_2018"           "CL_TRADE_FLOW"           
 [53] "CL_LANGUAGE"              "CL_SOC_CONCEPTS"         
 [55] "CL_UNIT"                  "CL_GENDER"               
 [57] "CL_REVISION_TYPE"

In contrast, the codelists owned by "IMF.STA" use the "CL_" prefix followed by the dataset id, and then the dimension name:

imf_sta_codelists <- imf_perform_request("structure/codelist/IMF.STA/")[["data"]][["codelists"]]
sapply(imf_sta_codelists, function(x) x$id)[1:20]

  [1] "CL_NSDP_NSDP_INDICATOR"             "CL_ITG_INDICATOR"                  
  [3] "CL_GS_ATF"                          "CL_PPI_INDICATOR"                  
  [5] "CL_CCI_INDICATOR"                   "CL_FSI_CONSOLIDATION_BASIS"        
  [7] "CL_NDGAIN_COUNTRY"                  "CL_UNFCCC_TYPE_OF_TRANSFORMATION"  
  [9] "CL_GS_CGI"                          "CL_WPGTA_NIPO_COUNTRY"             
 [11] "CL_EQSITC_DISSEMINATION_UNIT_CODES" "CL_ED_DISSEMINATION_INDICATORS"    
 [13] "CL_GS_HEALTH"                       "CL_IMTS_COUNTRY"                   
 [15] "CL_ITG_TYPE_OF_TRANSFORMATION"      "CL_WPGTA_NIPO_INITIAL_ASSESSMENT"  
 [17] "CL_FA_INDICATOR"                    "CL_MFS_FMP_INDICATOR"              
 [19] "CL_CO2E_INDICATOR"                  "CL_FA_COUNTRY"