Policy Papers
2009
August 17, 2009
Nepal - Assessment Letter for the Asian Development Bank
Description: Assessment Letters or Statements may be prepared for member countries with Fund-supported programs; receiving Fund emergency assistance; with staff-monitored programs; or surveillance-only cases. They are typically produced for use by the country with multilateral or bilateral donors or creditors, in particular the World Bank and other International Financial Institutions.
August 14, 2009
Cross-Cutting Themes in Major Article IV Consultations
Description: This paper is part of a broader on-going effort to bring a more cross-country perspective to bilateral surveillance, taking advantage of a cluster of Article IV consultations with five systemically important economies concluded in July. With the five economies—the United States, the Euro area, China, Japan, and the United Kingdom—accounting for two-thirds of global output and three quarters of capital flows, the nature of linkages and consistency of policy responses across the systemic five (S5) has important implications for the world economy.
August 11, 2009
Bangladesh - Assessment Letter for the Asian Development Bank
Description: Assessment Letters or Statements may be prepared for member countries with Fund-supported programs; receiving Fund emergency assistance; with staff-monitored programs; or surveillance-only cases. They are typically produced for use by the country with multilateral or bilateral donors or creditors, in particular the World Bank and other International Financial Institutions.
August 5, 2009
A Review of Some Aspects of the Low-Income Country Debt Sustainability Framework
Description: The Bank-Fund Debt Sustainability Framework (DSF) is a standardized framework for analyzing debt-related vulnerabilities in low-income countries (LICs). It aims to help countries monitor their debt burden and take early preventive action, to provide guidance to creditors in ensuring their lending decisions are consistent with countries’ development goals, and to improve the Bank and Fund’s assessments and policy advice. The DSF was last reviewed in 2006, and a reconsideration of some aspects of the framework is timely.
August 5, 2009
Debt Limits in Fund-Supported Programs - Proposed New Guidelines
Description: Low-income countries (LICs) face significant challenges in meeting their development objectives, while maintaining a sustainable debt position. To address this dilemma, the international community has largely advocated recourse to concessional external finance. The Fund’s existing policy and practice on external debt limits conforms to this preference.
July 31, 2009
Crisis-Related Measures in the Financial System and Sovereign Balance Sheet Risks
Description: This paper examines the fiscal and financial risk implications of support measures in a sovereign balance sheet framework, making the point that the ultimate fiscal cost will depend on how balance sheets are managed—both in the near-term and as governments develop unwinding strategies. It suggests some key principles for efficient and transparent management of new assets, liabilities, and associated risks, and for moving toward an orderly disengagement.
Notes: Prepared by a staff team supervised by Adrienne Cheasty and Udaibir S. Das and comprising Luis Cortavarria, Vincenzo Guzzo, Allison Holland, Philippe Karam, Daehaeng Kim, Ian Lienert, Edouard Martin, Michael Papaioannou, Iva Petrova, Abdourahmane Sarr, Mark Stone, and Mauricio Villafuerte.
July 29, 2009
Borrowing Agreement with the Government of France
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, France agrees to lend to the Fund an SDR-denominated amount up to the equivalent of EUR 11.06 billion, on the terms and conditions set out in this report.
July 27, 2009
Macro Policy Lessons for a Sound Design of Fiscal Decentralization
Description: Fiscal decentralization has been, and remains high on the policy agenda of many countries. It is mainly driven by political pressures, which tend to be especially evident in countries with multiple ethnicities, and/or wide regional disparities in incomes or resource endowments. More generally, decentralization pressures frequently reflect a desire for more participatory government and greater voice of local constituents in the allocation of budgetary resources. Regardless of its motivation, fiscal decentralization can have important macroeconomic implications. Therefore, Fund advice to member countries (whether in the context of surveillance, program design, or technical assistance) has often focused on the design and implementation of intergovernmental fiscal arrangements. This paper distills the main lessons from the Fund’s engagement with member countries in this area, drawing in particular, (but not exclusively) on technical assistance (TA) provided by the Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD) to ten countries which are broadly representative of the range of members that have requested assistance in this area.
July 27, 2009
Macro Policy Lessons for a Sound Design of Fiscal Decentralization-Background Studies
Description: This paper provides background to the Board paper on Macro Policy Lessons for a Sound Design of Fiscal Decentralization. It summarizes the findings and recommendations of the Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD) for ten countries to which it provided advice on fiscal decentralization. The selected countries (Bolivia, People’s Republic of China, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Kosovo, Liberia, FYR Macedonia, Mexico, and Nigeria) represent different regions, varying institutional arrangements, and diverse stages of the decentralization process.
July 1, 2009
IMF Governance-Summary of Issues and Reform Options
Description:
This paper summarizes the main governance challenges and reform options facing the IMF, drawing together the analysis and reform proposals in the reports of the Eminent Persons Group (headed by Trevor Manuel), the IEO, and a range of other recent work on Fund governance. Lest the wide scope of these inputs result in a laundry list, judgment has been exercised in selecting key issues and proposals, and in laying out some of the pros and cons. With reform of quotas/voting power on a separate track, the focus here is on the institutional framework through which members express voting power, weaknesses in which are seen by many to have eroded the Fund’s legitimacy and effectiveness, thereby displacing the debate and initiative to outside entities. While an overall reform package would have to include quota shares, the key proposals discussed here aim to: increase political engagement and oversight; enhance Executive Board effectiveness and representation; modify voting rules; better delineate responsibilities; open up management selection; and tackle problems with mandate and institutional culture that limit the issues and approaches taken.
Civil society has expressed a range of concerns related to IMF governance, including with regard to accountability at all levels (IMFC, Executive Board, management, and staff), mechanisms for responding to complaints and feedback from the broader public, and transparency. Given the diversity of their interests, and to provide unfiltered access to CSO views, the supplement: Fourth Pillar Recommendations from Civil Society; Preliminary Summary of Principles, Issues and Recommendations; has been prepared by CSO groups.