This paper reviews experience with the safeguards assessment policy since the last review in 2010. The policy is subject to periodic reviews by the Executive Board. The policy’s main objective is to mitigate risks of misuse of Fund resources and misreporting of monetary data under Fund arrangements. Consistent with past reviews, an external panel of experts provided an independent perspective on the implementation of the policy.
This paper presents the Fund’s net income outcome for FY 2010. The actual outcomes in this paper follow the closing of the Fund’s accounts for the financial year and completion of the FY 2010 external audit conducted by Deloitte & Touche, the Fund’s external auditor. The paper also provides an update on the restructuring costs incurred during FY 2010.
This paper reviews experience with the safeguards assessment policy since the last review in 2015. The policy is subject to periodic reviews by the Executive Board. The policy’s main objective is to mitigate risks of misuse of Fund resources and misreporting of monetary data under Fund arrangements. Consistent with past reviews, an external panel of experts provided an independent perspective on the implementation of the policy.
The safeguards assessments policy was introduced in March 2000 to provide reasonable assurance that central banks have adequate financial control systems in place to manage their resources and Fund disbursements. The safeguards policy’s main objective is to minimize the possibility of misreporting or misuse of Fund resources associated with the Fund’s lending activities. Safeguards assessments apply to all member countries that have a Fund arrangement.
Safeguards Activities. In the year to June 30, 2008, 10 safeguards assessments were conducted bringing the total number of assessments completed since 2000 to 122. At year-end, 72 central banks were subject to ongoing safeguards monitoring. Assessment activity has also included several recent high-profile cases of misreporting or misuse, along with intensive analysis of special audit reports initiated in such cases. In the latter part of 2008, staff developed modalities for expedited safeguards assessments under the Emergency Financing Mechanism.
This paper provides Executive Directors with an update of safeguards assessment activities from July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2007. This is the second annual update report of safeguards activities since the last review of the safeguards policy in April 2005. The next review of the policy by the Executive Board is scheduled for 2008.
This volume documents decisions, interpretations, and resolutions of the Executive Board and Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund, as well as documents relating to the United Nations and other international organizations.
Experience under the safeguards policy has shown that central banks continued to strengthen their safeguards frameworks, but that vulnerabilities prevailed in the areas of internal audit and oversight by the audit committee (AC). This paper takes steps to help unravel why this was the case, based on analysis of safeguards findings in these areas during the period April 2010 to December 2017 (covering 111 assessments at 64 central banks). Based on this analysis, it presents the key attributes that determine the effectiveness of internal audit and the AC. It also argues that, an effective internal audit function, coupled with strong oversight by a high-performing AC are key enablers of good governance.
This Handbook provides guidance to staff on the IMF’s concessional financial facilities and non-financial instruments for low-income countries (LICs), defined here as all countries eligible to obtain concessional financing from the Fund. It updates the previous version of the Handbook that was published in December 2017 (IMF, 2017e) by incorporating modifications resulting from the 2018–19 Review of Facilities for Low-Income Countries and Review of the Financing of the Fund’s Concessional Assistance and Debt Relief to Low-Income Member Countries (IMF, 2019a, b), approved by the Board in May 2019; the reforms introduced in 2021 on the basis of the Board paper Fund Concessional Financial Support for Low-Income Countries—Responding to the Pandemic (IMF, 2021a), approved in July 2021; and a number of other recent Board papers. Designed as a comprehensive reference tool for program work on LICs, the Handbook also refers, in summary form, to a range of relevant policies that apply more generally to IMF members. As with all guidance notes, the relevant IMF Executive Board decisions including the terms of the various LIC Trust Instruments that have been adopted by the Board, remain the primary legal authority on the matters covered in the Handbook.
