Policy Papers
2013
March 18, 2013
Review of Facilities for Low-Income Countries - Proposals for Implementation
Description: Based on the Executive Board’s guidance during the first stage of the Review of Low Income Countries (LIC) Facilities, this paper suggests a number of refinements to the facilities and instruments that are consistent with the self-sustainability of the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT). The proposals seek to improve the tailoring and flexibility of Fund support. Taken together with those advanced in the parallel paper on PRGT eligibility, they are projected to keep the average annual demand for PRGT resources within a range consistent with the Board’s approved strategy to make the PRGT self-sustaining over the period 2013–35. The proposals are as follows.
March 14, 2013
Jobs and Growth - Analytical and Operational Considerations for the Fund
Description: Job creation and growth with inclusion are imperatives that resonate today in every country. While some advanced countries face the challenge of supporting aggregate demand with limited fiscal space in the aftermath of the Great Recession, many countries have to address ways to generate growth and create jobs in the face of the strong ongoing global megatrends of technological change, globalization, and significant shifts in demographic trends. The latter includes rapid population aging in some parts of the world, and the entry of a large number of new workers into the labor force in others. Low female labor force participation represents a significant missed opportunity to strengthen economic development and growth in many countries.
March 5, 2013
Helping Developing Countries Address Public Debt Management Challenges - An IMF-World Bank Capacity Building Partnership
Description: In 2009, the Boards of the IMF and World Bank jointly endorsed a capacity building program to help developing countries strengthen their public debt management frameworks. A key aspect of the program was to help developing countries implement the framework developed by staffs to formulate an effective medium-term debt management strategy (MTDS). The Boards also supported the continued use of the complementary framework—the Debt Management Performance Assessment (DeMPA)—developed in 2007, to assess the effectiveness of the broader institutional arrangements for public debt management. This paper provides an update on the implementation of the program since its endorsement in 2009.
March 4, 2013
Termination of the Administered Account for Liberia
Description: On March 14, 2008 the Fund established the Administered Account for Liberia (“Liberia Administered Account” or LAA) to facilitate fundraising for, and delivery of, debt relief to Liberia with respect to obligations owed to the Fund. Specifically, the account was intended to: (i) receive resources contributed for the financing of the IMF’s share of debt relief to Liberia; and (ii) use these resources, as provided for in the Instrument to establish the LAA, to make contributions in the context of debt relief to Liberia under the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Initiative, and to deliver “beyond-HIPC” debt relief to Liberia (Attachment). As stipulated in the Instrument (paragraph 10(a)), the LAA shall remain in effect for as long as necessary, in the judgment of the Fund, to conduct and wind up the business of the account. Following Liberia’s successful achievement of the HIPC completion point in June 2010 and the full delivery of “beyond-HIPC” debt relief, which exhausted the balances in the account, the LAA can be terminated as it has no pending business.
March 1, 2013
Review of the Policy on Debt Limits in Fund-Supported Programs
Description:
This review examines the experience with the policy on debt limits in Fund-supported programs across the membership and proposes possible reforms to strengthen the policy. The policy was last reformed in 2009 with a view to adapting it to the changing circumstances in low-income countries (LICs). Given its primary focus on LICs, the reform left the policy applying to the rest of the membership broadly unchanged.
The Fund’s debt limits policy has been in place since the 1960s. From the policy’s inception, concessional flows have been excluded from debt limits under the presumption that such financing was critical for LICs and posed only limited risks to debt sustainability. Over time, the exclusion of concessional flows has led to a bifurcation in the policy, with one branch focusing on members to whom concessional financing is normally available, and the other on those to whom it is not—a distinction which in practical terms has involved differentiating between LICs and non-LICs.
February 22, 2013
IMF Membership in the Financial Stability Board
Description: In light of the recent establishment of the Financial Stability Board (FSB) as an association under Swiss law, this paper proposes Fund membership in the new association. The FSB was formed in 2009 and the Fund’s Executive Board approved the Fund’s membership in 2010, which has provided the Fund with the necessary scope to engage and collaborate with the FSB on a wide range of issues of mutual interest. Recently, in response to a request by the G-20 to establish the FSB with a well-defined “legal personality,” the FSB was established as an association under Swiss law. In light of this change, an Executive Board decision is required for the Fund to formally join the Association.
February 20, 2013
Caribbean Small States - Challenges of High Debt and Low Growth
Description: This paper presents background on Caribbean small states as context for the main paper, “Macroeconomic Issues in Small States and Implications for Fund Engagement.” It draws on recent analytical work presented at a conference for policy makers in September 2012, in Trinidad and Tobago. Caribbean small states, while sharing many features of other small states (size-related macroeconomic vulnerabilities, lack of economies of scale, and capacity constraints) have specific characteristics which merit attention.
February 20, 2013
Macroeconomic Issues in Small States and Implications for Fund Engagement
Description: This paper reviews the macroeconomic characteristics and performance of small states and discusses ways in which the Fund’s engagement with these countries could be better tailored to meet their needs. The Fund previously examined small states issues in 2000, informed by a Joint Task Force Report of the Commonwealth Secretariat (CS) and World Bank. Small states continue to face many of the same challenges they did then, and the 2000 Small States Report remains the foundation for much of the work in this area, both inside and outside the Fund. However, the relative macroeconomic performance of small states has deteriorated since the late 1990s, and a fresh look is warranted.
February 20, 2013
Asia and Pacific Small States - Raising Potential Growth and Enhancing Resilience to Shocks
Description: The small states of the Asia and Pacific region face unique challenges in raising their growth potential and living standards. These countries are particularly vulnerable because of their small populations, geographical isolation and dispersion, narrow export and production bases, lack of economies of scale, limited access to international capital markets, exposure to shocks (including climate change), and heavy reliance on aid. In providing public services, they face higher fixed government costs relative to other states because public services must be provided regardless of their small population size. Low access to credit by the private sector is an impediment to inclusive growth. Capacity constraints are another key challenge. The small states also face more limited policy tools. Five out of 13 countries do not have a central bank and the scope for diversifying their economies is narrow. Given their large development needs, fiscal policies have been, at times, pro-cyclical. Within the Asia-Pacific small states group, the micro states are subject to more vulnerability and macroeconomic volatility than the rest of the Asia-Pacific small states.
February 13, 2013
Proposed Amendment on the Reform of the IMF Executive Board and Fourteenth General Review of Quotas - Status of Acceptances and Consents
Description: This status report reviews progress toward implementation of the 2010 Quota and Governance Reforms. It updates the status of consents to the proposed quota increases under the 14th General Review of Quotas and of acceptances of the Proposed Seventh Amendment on the Reform of the Executive Board (“Board Reform Amendment” or “Seventh Amendment”) as set out in the Board of Governors Resolution No. 66-2.