Policy Papers
2008
September 19, 2008
Food and Fuel Prices-Recent Developments, Macroeconomic Impact, and Policy Responses—An Update
Description: This report updates the macroeconomic assessment of the impact of global food and fuel price increases provided in the IMF June 2008 Board paper: Food and Fuel Prices—Recent Developments, Macroeconomic Impact, and Policy Response. Food and oil prices peaked in early summer—in particular, oil prices surged to levels envisaged under the most adverse scenario presented in the June paper. Against this background, the effects of higher prices on the balance of payments, budgets, and domestic prices intensified and a large group of low- and middle-income countries is experiencing a substantial weakening of their balance of payments and higher inflation. These findings reinforce the importance of adopting appropriate policies to maintain macroeconomic stability while protecting the poor.
September 16, 2008
Update on the Financing of the IMF's Concessional Assistance and Debt Relief to Low-Income Member Countries
Description: This paper provides a semi-annual review of the status of financing for Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility-Exogenous Shocks Facility (PRGF-ESF) lending, subsidization of emergency assistance to PRGF-eligible countries, and Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) and Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) debt relief. The last review was completed by the IMF Executive Board on April 21, 2008.
September 15, 2008
The Fund's Response to the 2007-08 Financial Crisis - Stocktaking and Collaboration with the Financial Stability Forum
Description:
The present financial crisis is testing the resilience of the global financial system as well as the robustness of national and multilateral policy frameworks. As requested by Executive Directors, this paper reviews recent progress in meeting these challenges, focusing on the role of the Fund and its collaboration with the Financial Stability Forum (FSF).
In concert with other international bodies, the Fund has sought to promote appropriate policy responses to the financial turmoil, including through its report on The Recent Financial Turmoil—Initial Assessment, Policy Lessons, and Implications for Fund Surveillance, in the Global Financial Stability Report (GFSR) and the World Economic Outlook (WEO), as well as in recent Article IV consultations and Financial Sector Assessment Programs (FSAPs). The Fund has also responded to the International Monetary and Financial Committee’s (IMFC) call for closer collaboration with other international fora, including by supporting the implementation of policy lessons from the crisis, such as the 67 FSF recommendations issued in April 2008.
September 12, 2008
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative and Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) - Status of Implementation 2008
Description: This report provides an update on the status of implementation, impact and costs of the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Initiative and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI). With a view to the upcoming Financing for Development meetings in Doha, the report not only reports on recent progress since mid-2007, but also on developments since the Monterrey Consensus recommendations on external debt relief.
September 8, 2008
Fuel and Food Price Subsidies - Issues and Reform Options
Description: Government price subsidies are pervasive in developed, emerging, and low-income countries. A subsidy is a form of government intervention resulting in a deviation of an actual price facing consumers and producers from a specified benchmark price. Subsidies affect consumption and production patterns as well as the distribution of resources, with important implications for the budget, expenditure composition, and long-term growth. They can and often do involve fiscal costs, but not all affect government fiscal accounts in the same way. Price subsidies have spillover effects onto prices and quantities in domestic, regional, or global markets. This paper discusses the key issues and policy options in the reform of subsidies for fossil fuels and selected food commodities, and their implications for the work of the Fund.
September 3, 2008
Review of Access to Financing in the Credit Tranches and Under the Extended Fund Facility, and Overall Access Limits Under the General Resources Account
Description: The Board completed its last review of access policy in February 2008 (2008 Access Policy Review). At that time, while some Directors saw the need for an increase in the limits on normal access to Fund resources, most Directors supported maintaining the access limits in the credit tranches and under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the separate overall limits on access to resources in the General Resources Account (GRA) at the present level of 100 percent of quota on an annual basis and 300 percent on a cumulative basis. During the 2008 Spring Meetings, the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) encouraged the Executive Board to consider raising access limits. In doing so, the IMFC recognized that emerging market and developing countries are not immune to a broadening of the problems in financial markets and looked forward to reviewing progress at its next meeting. A fresh look at access limits is warranted in light of the broader review of the Fund’s lending framework which is underway, and to take account of the April 28, 2008 agreement on a second round of ad hoc quota increases under the quota and voice reform.
September 2, 2008
Implementation of the Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision - Experience with Assessments and Implications for Future Work
Description: This paper reviews the experience to date in assessing countries’ compliance with the Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision (BCP). This review is based on 136 assessments conducted under the FSAP/OFC programs, using the methodology associated with the 1997 version of the BCP. It follows earlier reviews presented to the Board in 2000, 2002, and 2004. The Fund has developed a strong collaborative relationship with the Basel Committee in promoting financial stability, in particular, in its work through the FSAP program in assessing (together with the Word Bank) the quality of countries’ supervisory structures. Experience gained from these assessments are also being reported back to the Committee through the Fund’s participation in Basel working groups, and staff has also been actively involved in the update of the BCP in 2006, with the objective of maintaining the BCP’s relevance as a global standard of good practice.
September 2, 2008
2008 Triennial Surveillance Review - Overview Paper
Description: This triennial surveillance review (TSR) takes place in a time of change, with the Fund in the midst of a major refocusing effort. That surveillance has not been as effective as it should be has been amply documented, notably in previous surveillance reviews and several IEO evaluations. Since the 2004 review of bilateral surveillance (BSR), considerable efforts have been made to enhance its effectiveness, including an overhaul of the policy framework with the adoption of a new Surveillance Decision in 2007. And as part of the refocusing effort, more change is underway to deliver on the Managing Director’s vision of an institution making better use of its comparative advantage, to be “more alert to emerging issues, more critical in its assessments (especially in good times), and more assertive in communicating its concerns.”
September 2, 2008
2008 Triennial Surveillance Review - Background Information and Statistical Appendix
Description:
Country surveillance constitutes an essential part of the IMF's mandate to oversee the international monetary system and to monitor the economic and financial policies of its 185 member countries. The IMF's Executive Board conducts regularly scheduled reviews of country surveillance (the Triennial Surveillance Review) to consider ways to improve its effectiveness. The 2008 review is the first such review since the Executive Board approved, in June 2007, a new Decision on Bilateral Surveillance. This Decision affirms that the focus of bilateral surveillance is on those policies of members that can significantly influence present or prospective external stability. The review focused on the implementation of country surveillance in the recent past, as presented in the following set of papers:
• The overview paper presents the main findings and priority areas for further work. The review finds that stakeholders hold the quality of IMF surveillance in high regard, but that improvements should focus on risk assessment, integration of macroeconomic and financial sector surveillance, multilateral perspectives (cross-border spillovers and cross-country analysis), and exchange rate assessments. The priority areas identified in the review served as key background for the preparation of the IMF’s Statement of Surveillance Priorities (SSP).
• The Thematic Findings (Supplement 1) provides supporting analysis on the implementation of bilateral surveillance in the recent past and, particularly, on the appropriateness of its focus and its analytical value added in particular areas, including the overall “health check”, exchange rates, financial sector issues, cross-country analysis and cross-border spillover analysis (including a case study of surveillance in the run up to the subprime crisis), the degree of candor and evenhandedness in surveillance, and the effectiveness of its communication.
• The Background Information paper (Supplement 2) provides further information, including a description of review methodologies, and results including interview findings, surveys of various audiences, and supporting data on the quality of consultation documents.
• The External Consultant’s Report provides an independent view of IMF surveillance in Europe.
August 28, 2008
The GCC Monetary Union - Choice of Exchange Rate Regime
Description: One of the critical decisions in the formation of a monetary union is the choice of an appropriate exchange rate regime for the single currency. The member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) agreed in 2003 to peg their currencies to the U.S. dollar and to maintain the parity until the establishment of the GCC Monetary Union in 2010. A decision on the exchange rate regime for the single GCC currency would be made then. Although the choice of the U.S. dollar peg as the external anchor for monetary policy served the countries of the GCC well for many years in maintaining macroeconomic stability, rising inflationary pressures in the last two to three years, the continuing depreciation of the U.S. dollar against major currencies, and differing economic cycles and policy needs to that of the anchor country (the United States) have raised questions about whether the peg to the dollar remains appropriate, and therefore would be appropriate for the GCC Monetary Union.