Policy Papers
2010
February 4, 2010
Exiting from Crisis Intervention Policies
Description:
This paper identifies broad principles for exiting from extraordinary and unprecedented crisis-related intervention policies implemented by countries across the globe following the onset of the crisis in the summer of 2007. It responds to the requests of the IMFC and the Board to make Fund advice and views on exiting from crisis-related intervention measures more concrete. Drawing on previous and ongoing work by staff, it mostly focuses on medium and large advanced and emerging market economies, in which interventions have been more substantial.
See also background papers:
Strategies for Fiscal Consolidation in the Post-Crisis World
Exiting from Monetary Crisis Intervention Measures—Background Paper
The Role of Indicators in Guiding the Exit from Monetary and Financial Crisis Intervention Measures—Background Paper
January 27, 2010
Borrowing Agreement with the Oesterreichische Nationalbank
Description: In light of the multilateral effort to ensure the adequacy of the financial resources available to the International Monetary Fund (the “Fund”), and with a view to supporting the Fund’s ability to provide timely and effective balance of payments assistance to its members, the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (“OeNB”) agrees to lend to the Fund an SDR-denominated amount up to the equivalent of EUR 2.18 billion, on the terms and conditions set out in this paper.
January 25, 2010
Staff Guidance Note on the Application of the Joint Fund-Bank Debt Sustainability Framework for Low-Income Countries
Description: The objective of the joint Bank-Fund debt sustainability framework for low-income countries is to support LICs in their efforts to achieve their development goals without creating future debt problems. Countries that have received debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) need to be kept on a sustainable track. Under the framework, country DSAs are prepared jointly by Bank and Fund staff, with close collaboration between the two staffs on the design of the macroeconomic baseline, alternative scenarios, the debt distress rating, and the drafting of the write-up.
January 25, 2010
Operational Guidance Note on Conditionality—December 2009 Revisions
Description:
The 2000-02 comprehensive review of the Fund’s conditionality culminated in the adoption of a set of conditionality guidelines by the Executive Board on September 25, 2002.
The 2002 Conditionality Guidelines (the “guidelines”) replace the 1979 Conditionality Guidelines and the Interim Guidance Note on Streamlining Structural Conditionality of September 18, 2000. A review of experience with the guidelines, looking at how they have been implemented and at their impact, is conducted periodically; summary statistics on conditionality have been prepared annually since 2008.
January 22, 2010
The Fund’s Mandate - An Overview
Description: This paper, and a companion piece on legal aspects “The Fund’s Mandate—The Legal Framework,” is the first in a series of reflections on the Fund’s mandate—on what it should be doing to promote global stability and how the membership might support that process. At this stage, the aim is not to put forward concrete proposals but to float ideas with a view to stimulating a broader debate. Follow up papers, based on feedback from the Executive Board and public outreach, are planned ahead of the final report to the IMFC in September.
January 22, 2010
The Fund's Mandate-The Legal Framework
Description: This paper is intended to accompany “The Fund’s Role and Mandate—An Overview” (the “Mandate Overview Paper”). Taking into account the issues raised in the Mandate Overview Paper and, in particular, the potential areas for reform that it identifies, this paper provides a brief analysis of both the constraints and flexibility that exist under the existing legal framework. At the outset, it is useful to identify several aspects of this framework that are of particular relevance.
January 11, 2010
Framework Administered Account for Selected Fund Activities-Norway Subaccount for Selected Fund Activities
Description: The Fund, represented by the Managing Director, has reached understandings with Norway acting through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ("Norway"), to finance capacity building, training and related activities. On the basis of these understandings, the Managing Director has established the essential terms and conditions of the Subaccount, with which Norway concurs, with respect to the nature, design, and implementation of the activities to be financed and the method by which the costs of the activities will be financed from the Subaccount.
January 8, 2010
Note Purchase Agreement with Brazil
Description: This Note Purchase Agreement (the "Agreement") is entered into between the Federative Republic of Brazil ("Brazil") and the International Monetary Fund (the "Fund"). Where specified in this Agreement, Banco Central do Brasil ("BCB") shall act as agent for Brazil in order to carry out the operations with the Fund herein described. In those cases, the Fund shall be entitled to consider any request, representation or notification from or to the BCB, or any consultation with the BCB, as constituting, respectively, a request, representation or notification from or to, or consultation with, Brazil.
January 5, 2010
Borrowing Agreement with the Central Bank of Malta
Description: In light of the multilateral effort to ensure the adequacy of the financial resources available to the International Monetary Fund, and with a view to supporting the Fund’s ability to provide timely and effective balance of payments assistance to its members, the Central Bank of Malta agrees to lend to the Fund an SDR denominated amount up to the equivalent of EUR120 million, on the terms and conditions set in this policy paper.
January 1, 2010
Eligibility to Use the Fund’s Facilities for Concessional Financing - Decisions
Description: This paper proposes a framework for updating the PRGT eligibility list, based on transparent criteria and a regular review process, including policies for phasing in changes in eligibility. The premise is that access to scarce resources for concessional Fund financing should be preserved for members with a low level of income and related economic and financial vulnerabilities. From this perspective, there are several potential anomalies in the current eligibility list, which has been established primarily on the basis of IDA eligibility, and was last reviewed in 2003.