Proposal for a Staff-Monitored Program with Executive Board Involvement
Proposal for a Staff-Monitored Program with Executive Board Involvement

Author: International Monetary

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2022-10-05

Total Pages: 18

ISBN-13:

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This paper proposes an amendment to the policy on Staff-Monitored Programs (SMPs) that would allow for limited Executive Board involvement in opining on the robustness of a member’s policies to meet their stated objectives under an SMP and monitoring its implementation. To differentiate from regular SMPs, such SMPs would be called “Program Monitoring with Board Involvement” or “PMBs”. Their use would be only available to those (requesting) members who, in addition to seeking to build or rebuild a track record for Upper Credit Tranche (UCT) Use of Fund Resources (UFR), would benefit from targeted Executive Board involvement because of either (i) an ongoing concerted international effort by creditors or donors to provide substantial new financing or debt relief to the member or (ii) significant outstanding Fund credit under emergency financing instruments at the time new emergency financing is received. Members meeting criterion (i) or (ii) above would be strongly encouraged to request such a PMB. The PMB would support members in designing, implementing, and monitoring policies under often complex circumstances.

Review of the Policy on Staff-Monitored Program With Executive Board Involvement
Review of the Policy on Staff-Monitored Program With Executive Board Involvement

Author: International Monetary Fund. Strategy, Policy, & Review Department

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2024-02-20

Total Pages: 17

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This paper reviews the policy on Staff-Monitored Program with Executive Board Involvement (PMB). The PMB plays an important niche role in the Fund’s toolkit in supporting members in circumscribed circumstances, while not supplanting the Staff-Monitored Programs (SMPs) as the primary tool for building or rebuilding a track record towards a Fund arrangement that supports a UCT-quality program. Experience with the PMB is limited to three country cases over the past sixteen months. Further experience would be needed to draw more definitive conclusions in terms of the usefulness of the PMB vis-à-vis alternative instruments and a more parsimonious Fund toolkit. In this context, the PMB is kept in the toolkit, and it will be expected to be reviewed in three years.

2024 Staff Guidance Note On The IMF’s Engagement With Small Developing States
2024 Staff Guidance Note On The IMF’s Engagement With Small Developing States

Author: International Monetary Fund. Strategy, Policy, & Review Department

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2024-07-25

Total Pages: 68

ISBN-13:

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This guidance note provides operational guidance on the Fund’s engagement with small developing states (SDS). It highlights the unique economic characteristics and constraints facing SDS, notably in a more shock-prone world. Building on advice that applies to the full membership, the note explains how the characteristics of SDS shape Fund surveillance, financial support and program design, capacity development (CD), and collaboration with other institutions and donors. The note updates the previous version that was published in December 2017.

2023 Handbook of IMF Facilities for Low-Income Countries
2023 Handbook of IMF Facilities for Low-Income Countries

Author: International Monetary Fund. Strategy, Policy, & Review Department

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2023-04-21

Total Pages: 191

ISBN-13:

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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.

Proposal for a Food Shock Window Under the Rapid Financing Instrument and Rapid Credit Facility
Proposal for a Food Shock Window Under the Rapid Financing Instrument and Rapid Credit Facility

Author: International Monetary

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2022-10-05

Total Pages: 21

ISBN-13:

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Russia’s war in Ukraine has exacerbated global economic pressures, including through a food shock. The war and food-related spillovers—higher import prices for food and fertilizer and disruptions in supply lines for food importers, and a loss of revenue for some food exporters—add to urgent balance-of-payments (BOP) needs of many Fund members. They have also exacerbated acute food insecurity, now affecting 345 million people. While the best response to address BOP pressures would generally involve an Upper Credit Tranche-quality program, such a program may not be feasible in some cases or necessary in others. This paper proposes a time-bound food shock window under the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) and the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) to provide support to members in such situations. The new window would be temporary and provide low-access emergency financing that increases the amounts currently available under the RFI/RCF. Members would need to demonstrate urgent BOP needs and meet a set of qualification criteria related to the global food shock. The window would be available for 12 months from the date of Board approval of the window. Countries requesting financing under the window would also need to meet the standard qualification criteria under the RFI/RCF.

Operational Guidance Note On Program Design and Conditionality
Operational Guidance Note On Program Design and Conditionality

Author: International Monetary Fund. Strategy, Policy, & Review Department

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2024-01-30

Total Pages: 179

ISBN-13:

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This note aims to provide guidance on the key principles and considerations underlying the design of Fund-supported programs. The note expands on the previous operational guidance notes on conditionality published over 2003-2014, incorporating lessons from the 2018-19 Review of Conditionality, and other recent key policy developments including the recommendation of the Management’s Implementation Plan in response to Independent Evaluation Office (IEO)’s report on growth and adjustment in IMF-supported programs. The note in particular highlights operational advice to (i) improve the realism of macroeconomic forecast in programs and fostering a more systematic analysis of contingency plans and risks; (ii) improve the focus, depth, implementation, and tailoring of structural conditions (SCs), with due consideration of growth effects; and (iii) help strengthen the ownership of country authorities. Designed as a comprehensive reference and primer on program design and conditionality in an accessible and transparent manner, the note refers in summary to a broad range of economic and policy considerations over the lifecycle of Fund-supported programs. As with all guidance notes, the relevant IMF Executive Board Decisions remain the primary legal authority on matters covered in this note.

Selected Decisions and Selected Documents of the International Monetary Fund
Selected Decisions and Selected Documents of the International Monetary Fund

Author: International Monetary Fund. Legal Dept.

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2024-03-12

Total Pages: 1064

ISBN-13:

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This volume is the Forty-Third Issue of Selected Decisions and Selected Documents of the International Monetary Fund. It includes decisions, interpretations, and resolutions of the Executive Board and the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund, as well as selected documents, to which frequent reference is made in the current activities of the Fund. In addition, it includes certain documents relating to the Fund, the United Nations, and other international organizations.

Review of Experience with The Food Shock Window Under The Rapid Financing Instrument and The Rapid Credit Facility
Review of Experience with The Food Shock Window Under The Rapid Financing Instrument and The Rapid Credit Facility

Author: International Monetary Fund. Finance Dept.

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2023-06-30

Total Pages: 29

ISBN-13:

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The Food Shock Window (FSW) under the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) and the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) was approved in September 2022 for 12 months, as a complement to the tools used by the Fund to support the broader international effort to address the global food shock. The Fund has been working closely with partners to provide a coordinated international response to the global food shock, and has contributed through policy advice, technical assistance and lending. Where needed and possible, financial support to countries affected by the global food shock has been delivered by the IMF through multi-year Fund-supported programs The FSW complemented this support in situations where these programs were not feasible or not necessary. As the global food shock and associated balance of payment pressures are expected to continue throughout 2023, the IMF extended the FSW until end-March 2024 to allow the FSW to continue serving as a contingency tool. This extension will also provide sufficient time to observe if the FSW can lapse without limiting the capacity of the Fund to support its members. To ensure adequate borrowing space under the emergency financing limits for those countries that have received support through the FSW, the IMF also extended the additional 25 percent of quota added to the Cumulative Access Limit until end-2026 for countries that have accessed the Food Shock Window through the RFI and until the completion of the 2024/25 PRGT review for those that accessed the Food Shock Window through the RCF.

Review of the Policy Coordination Instrument and Proposal to Eliminate the Policy Support Instrument
Review of the Policy Coordination Instrument and Proposal to Eliminate the Policy Support Instrument

Author: International Monetary Fund. Strategy, Policy, & Review Department

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2023-10-06

Total Pages: 65

ISBN-13:

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The Policy Coordination Instrument (PCI) is a non-financial instrument designed to help countries demonstrate commitment to a reform agenda and unlock financing from other sources. Established in 2017, the PCI aims to support countries in designing and implementing a full-fledged macroeconomic program of policies to address imbalances, prevent crises, build buffers, and enhance stability. The PCI enables closer cooperation with the Fund in cases where countries commit to upper-credit tranche (UCT) quality policies and more intensive monitoring. However, at the time of requesting a PCI, such countries must not be seeking financial assistance from the General Resources Account (GRA) and the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT). The design, request, and review process of the PCI are structured based on Fund arrangements, with several design features drawing on the Policy Support Instrument (PSI). Similar to the PSI, the PCI is a form of technical assistance. However, unlike the PSI, which is restricted to PRGT-eligible members, the PCI is available to all member countries.

Iceland: Sixth Review Under the SBA and Proposal for Post-Program Monitoring - Staff Report; Staff Statement; Press Release on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for Iceland.
Iceland: Sixth Review Under the SBA and Proposal for Post-Program Monitoring - Staff Report; Staff Statement; Press Release on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for Iceland.

Author: International Monetary Fund

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2011-08-31

Total Pages: 77

ISBN-13: 1463902271

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In recent years, the IMF has released a growing number of reports and other documents covering economic and financial developments and trends in member countries. Each report, prepared by a staff team after discussions with government officials, is published at the option of the member country.