Policy Papers
2018
August 6, 2018
Flexible Credit Line - Operational Guidance Note
Description:
This note provides general guidance on the use of the Flexible Credit Line (FCL). After an overview of the instrument, explaining its specific nature, the operational issues are grouped into three areas:
• an outline of the process and specific steps that need to be followed if a member expresses interest in an arrangement;
• guidance on determining qualification of a member; and
• a how-to guide for determining appropriate access levels.
The note is an aid to the implementation of the policy and its underlying principles. If there is any instance in which a provision of the guidance note or its implementation conflicts with Board policy, Board policy prevails. It will be revised as needed, for example following relevant policy reviews.
August 6, 2018
Precautionary and Liquidity Line - Operational Guidance Note
Description:
This note provides general guidance on the use of the Precautionary and Liquidity Line (PLL). After an overview of the instrument, explaining its specific nature, the operational issues are grouped into five areas:
• an outline of the process and specific steps that need to be followed if a member expresses interest in an arrangement;
• guidance on access, phasing, and purchases;
• guidance on determining qualification of a member and appropriate ex-post conditionality; and
• a guide to the semi-annual review process.
The note is an aid to the implementation of the policy and its underlying principles. If there is any instance in which a provision of the guidance note or its implementation conflicts with Board policy, Board policy prevails. It will be revised as needed, for example following relevant policy reviews.
August 2, 2018
FY2018 - Output Cost Estimates and Budget Outturn
Description:
The Fund continues to make efforts to maximize the use of available resources in order to deliver on the priorities and initiatives laid out in the Global Policy Agenda (GPA). The FY 18 outturn reflects reallocations and efficiency gains, as well as flexibility provided by carry forward resources.
With the number of Fund arrangements falling, the Fund’s outputs shifted from spending on lending activity to multilateral surveillance. On the input side, the structural budget was fully utilized.
This paper presents key highlights of the FY 18 outturn, including a discussion of the outputs and inputs. Details on Capacity Development (CD) are presented in Annex I.
August 1, 2018
2018 Review of Facilities for Low-Income Countries
Description: The Fund is facing strong demand for financing from low-income countries (LICs). Commodity price shocks and loose fiscal policies have contributed to rising debt levels and financing needs in many countries. Several developing states, especially smaller ones, are also increasingly vulnerable to large natural disasters. At the same time, many LICs less dependent on commodity exports have enjoyed robust growth in recent years, with more contained vulnerabilities.
July 16, 2018
Extension of the Periods for Consent to and Payment of Quota Increase
Description:
On June 27, 2018, the IMF’s Executive Board approved a further six-month extension of the period for members to consent to an increase in their quotas under the Fourteenth General Review of Quotas (“Fourteenth Review”) through December 28, 2018. The deadline was due to expire on June 29, 2018. However, Board of Governors Resolution No. 66-2 provides that the Executive Board may extend the period for consent as it may determine. An extension under Resolution No. 66-2 also extends the periods of consent for quota increases under the 2008 Reform of Quota and Voice (Resolution No. 63-2) and the Eleventh General Review of Quotas (Resolution No. 53-2). The Executive Board also approved a further six-month extension of the period for payment of quota increases under the Fourteenth Review, and an extension for the payment of the quota increases under the 2008 Reform, through December 28, 2018.
July 12, 2018
Statement by the Managing Director on the Work Program of the Executive Board
Description: This Work Program (WP) translates the strategic directions and policy priorities laid out in the Spring 2018 Global Policy Agenda (GPA) Update and the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) Communiqué into an Executive Board agenda for the next twelve months.
July 11, 2018
Guidance Note on IMF Engagement on Social Safeguards in Low-Income Countries
Description: This note provides operational guidance to staff on how to engage on social safeguard issues with low-income countries in both program and surveillance contexts. The note is not intended as a comprehensive guide, and should be used in conjunction with other operational guidance notes, such as those relating to conditionality and surveillance.
July 9, 2018
Review of the Fund's Strategy on Overdue Financial Obligations
Description:
This paper reviews progress under the Fund’s strengthened cooperative strategy on overdue financial obligations. The level of overdue obligations to the Fund declined and their structure has remained broadly unchanged since the last review. Total overdue obligations to the Fund at end-June 2017 amounted to SDR 1,205.7 million, a decline of about SDR 100 million from the end-June 2012 level, when the strategy was reviewed last.
All overdue obligations to the Fund at end-June 2017 were due to two protracted overdue obligations cases. Sudan accounts for the bulk of the overdue obligations to the Fund (80 percent), and Somalia for the remainder. Zimbabwe, which was in protracted overdue obligations to the PRGT at the time of the last Review, settled its overdue obligations to the PRGT on October 20, 2016.
June 28, 2018
List of IMF Member Countries with Delays in Completion of Article IV Consultations or Mandatory Financial Stability Assessments over 18 Months
Description:
In accordance with Executive Board Decision No. 15106-(12/21), the Fund
will publish on its external website a list of member countries whose
Article IV consultations or mandatory financial stability assessments have
been delayed by more than 18 months, as of June15, 2018, since the expected
deadline for conclusion.
The latest version of this list, as shown in Appendix I, will be published
on the Fund’s external website on or after June 27, 2018.
June 15, 2018
Assessing Fiscal Space: An Update and Stocktaking
Description: This paper reviews the experience with the fiscal space assessment framework that was piloted during 2017–18. In 2016, staff proposed an operational definition of fiscal space and a new four-stage framework for its assessment. These were discussed informally by the Board in June, and a Board paper “Assessing Fiscal Space: An Initial Consistent Set of Considerations” incorporating Directors’ views was published in December. Fiscal space was narrowly defined as the room for undertaking discretionary fiscal policy relative to existing plans without endangering market access and debt sustainability. The framework was developed in response to the need to provide a more systematic approach to assessing fiscal space in the Fund’s surveillance. It was designed as a tool to inform the availability of fiscal space over a 3 to 4 year horizon for discretionary action, as opposed to the optimality of its use. Indeed, it was stressed that the availability of space does not necessarily mean that it should be used or should not be further expanded. The framework was piloted in the Article IV consultations of 34 advanced economies and emerging markets, comprising almost 80 percent of global GDP in PPP terms.