Policy Papers
2008
April 12, 2008
Statement by the Managing Director on Strategic Directions in the Medium-Term Budget
Description: The long view. I try never to forget that the Fund was founded at the close of the Second World War to avoid the human devastation that too often follows economic disasters. The specifics may change from one era to the next—reversals in capital flows, not war reparations; financial collapses from asset market bubbles, not hyperinflations—but the dynamic of economic shock transmitted to political and social convulsion has not changed. As we look ahead ten or twenty years beyond today’s budgetary and staffing preoccupations, we must not lose sight of the raison d’etre of the Fund: to deliver the economic analysis and multilateral collaboration that ensures financial stability and prosperity for all—and thereby avoid the tragedies that ensue when these are absent.
April 11, 2008
Update on the Financing of the Fund'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 PRGFESF lending, HIPC and MDRI debt relief, and an update on the mobilization of resources for the subsidization of emergency assistance to PRGF-eligible countries. The last review was completed by the Executive Board on September 26, 2007.
April 10, 2008
Delivery of HIPC Initiative Debt Relief by Non-Paris Club Official Bilateral Creditors - Updated Table
Description: The table provides information on HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Country) Initiative debt relief provided by each non-Paris Club official bilateral creditor to post-completion point HIPCs. It tracks the HIPC Initiative debt relief granted by these creditors so far. The table is updated annually in the context of the “HIPC Initiative Status of Implementation Report.” It is also updated when creditors and debtors provide comprehensive information for updating the estimates of HIPC Initiative debt relief provided.
April 9, 2008
Report of the Managing Director to the International Monetary and Financial Committee on the IMF's Policy Agenda
Description: This paper describes the policy changes that the Fund has made since the October 2007 IMFC meeting and the ways in which we plan to refocus the Fund’s work to support our members more strongly. It also describes the steps that management, staff, and the Executive Board have agreed to put our own house in order—to reform our governance, contain our spending, and solve our income problem.
April 9, 2008
Report of the Managing Director to the International Monetary and Financial Committee on a New Income and Expenditure Framework for the International Monetary Fund
Description: The October 2007 Communiqué of the IMFC called on the Executive Board to develop specific proposals on a new income model and a new expenditure framework by the time of the 2008 Spring Meetings. On April 7, 2008, the Executive Board endorsed a new income model for the Fund and considered a new medium-term budgetary envelope for financial years 2009–11, which includes deep spending cuts, and approved administrative, restructuring, and capital budgets for financial year 2009. As a key element of this new income-expenditure framework, the Executive Board ecommended the adoption by the Board of Governors of an amendment of the Articles of Agreement to expand the Fund’s investment authority. The Executive Board’s recommendation was sent to the Board of Governors, with the voting period running through 6:00 p.m., Washington time, May 5, 2008.
April 9, 2008
The Recent Financial Turmoil - Initial Assessment, Policy Lessons, and Implications for Fund Surveillance
Description: In response to the IMFC’s October 2007 communiqué, IMF staff has sought to assess the causes of the present turbulence and draw tentative lessons in order to inform its future bilateral and multilateral surveillance work. This effort has involved close collaboration with the Financial Stability Forum (FSF) and its working groups, as well as consultation with the private sector, national authorities, standard setters, and other bodies.
April 8, 2008
Report of the Managing Director to the International Monetary and Financial Committee on IMF Quota and Voice Reform
Description: The October 2007 Communiqué of the IMFC stressed the critical importance of the implementation of the program of quota and voice reforms adopted by the Board of Governors in Singapore and called on the Executive Board to continue its work in order to allow agreement on all elements of the package by Spring 2008. On March 28, 2008, the Executive Board recommended the adoption by the Board of Governors of an important package of quota and voice reforms.
April 8, 2008
Implementation Plan in Response to Board-Endorsed Recommendations Arising from the IEO Evaluation of Structural Conditionality in IMF-Supported Programs
Description: This paper presents an implementation plan for Board-endorsed recommendations arising from the IEO Evaluation of Structural Conditionality in IMF-Supported Programs (“the IEO Report”). The IEO report’s recommendations and the views of the Executive Board are summarized in Section II, followed by a description of the proposed initiatives which make up this implementation plan (Section III). Section IV concludes with a discussion of the projected resource cost associated with this plan. The IEO evaluation provides a renewed impetus to the Fund’s efforts to emphasize parsimony and criticality in the setting of structural conditions. The IEO report’s key findings echo in many respects those provided in the 2005 conditionality Review; specifically, evidence exists of a substantive shift in the composition of structural conditionality towards Fund core areas and Fund-supported programs cover narrower areas of reform. The IEO report argues, however, that conditionality may have covered areas not critical to the goals of Fund-supported programs, suggesting scope for strengthening the parsimony and criticality aspects of the 2002 Conditionality Guidelines (CG).
April 7, 2008
Provisional Agenda for the Seventeenth Meeting of the International Monetary and Financial Committee
Description: The following is the provisional agenda for the Seventeenth Meeting of the International Monetary and Financial Committee, which is to be convened on Saturday, April 12, 2008, at the Fund’s Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
April 4, 2008
Technical Assistance Evaluation Program - Findings of Evaluations and Updated Program - Mid-Term Evaluation of Middle East Regional Technical Assistance Center
Description: This evaluation reviewed the performance of the IMF Middle East Regional Technical Assistance Center (METAC) over the period since its operations began in late 2004. The evaluation focused on the operational and organizational effectiveness of METAC.