10 The"crawling band"category has been dropped, as only very few countries have availed hemselves of such an arrangement in the past decade The revised methodology also entails criteria for dealing with outliers. For a reclassification to an arrangement with less flexibility, IMF staff will continue to assess the extent and effect of intervention, and will also consider whether the lack of exchange rate variability is due to an absence of market shocks. However, there is a need to allow more explicitly for occasional spikes arising from disorderly markets or realignments of pegs, to enhance cross country comparability. In particular, it allows for one episode of spikes lasting at most five days per quarter, and one step realignment in six months. This will prevent de facto fixers from being misclassified as floaters when the exchange rate is allowed to fluctuate beyond defined ranges at infrequent intervals. Moreover, quantitative indicators are being used to help identify the presence of a minimum absolute and relative level of market pressures to warrant drawing conclusions on exchange rate policies from observed exchange rate stability Such spikes may be the result of short-term one-off exchange rate pressures or disorderly market conditions For countries with pegged exchange rate regimes, there are very few instances where countries exceed their +I percent bands. The five-day period broadly corresponds to the period of one week specified for broken cross rates under the policy on Multiple Currency Practices(Decision No. 6790-(81743), adopted 3/20/81, as amended), but the main reason for setting it relatively wide is to allow for diverging practices across countries, in that some need more time to manage disorderly conditions than others 8 Devaluations and revaluations, which tend to permanently move the median exchange rate(in contrast to the temporary effect of spikes), are common features of pegged regimes as well. The current practice is to allow fo four adjustments of over I percent per year; this would be tightened under the revised methodology10 The “crawling band” category has been dropped, as only very few countries have availed themselves of such an arrangement in the past decade. The revised methodology also entails criteria for dealing with outliers. For a reclassification to an arrangement with less flexibility, IMF staff will continue to assess the extent and effect of intervention, and will also consider whether the lack of exchange rate variability is due to an absence of market shocks. However, there is a need to allow more explicitly for occasional spikes arising from disorderly markets or realignments of pegs, to enhance cross country comparability. In particular, it allows for one episode of spikes lasting at most five days per quarter, and one step realignment in six months.7 This will prevent de facto fixers from being misclassified as floaters when the exchange rate is allowed to fluctuate beyond defined ranges at infrequent intervals.8 Moreover, quantitative indicators are being used to help identify the presence of a minimum absolute and relative level of market pressures to warrant drawing conclusions on exchange rate policies from observed exchange rate stability. 7 Such spikes may be the result of short-term one-off exchange rate pressures or disorderly market conditions. For countries with pegged exchange rate regimes, there are very few instances where countries exceed their ±1 percent bands. The five-day period broadly corresponds to the period of one week specified for broken cross rates under the policy on Multiple Currency Practices (Decision No. 6790-(81/43), adopted 3/20/81, as amended), but the main reason for setting it relatively wide is to allow for diverging practices across countries, in that some need more time to manage disorderly conditions than others. 8 Devaluations and revaluations, which tend to permanently move the median exchange rate (in contrast to the temporary effect of spikes), are common features of pegged regimes as well. The current practice is to allow for four adjustments of over 1 percent per year; this would be tightened under the revised methodology