Policy Papers
2011
November 30, 2011
Guidance Note on Letters and Statements Assessing Members’ Economic Conditions and Policies
Description: This note provides guidance on the need for, content, review and circulation of assessment letters or statements. Such letters or statements may be prepared for countries with programs supported by the Fund through financial assistance or a policy support instrument, countries receiving Fund emergency assistance, countries with staff-monitored programs (SMPs), or surveillance-only cases.
November 23, 2011
Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust - Review of Interest Rate Structure
Description: This is the first review of the interest rate mechanism approved under the 2009 reforms of the Fund’s concessional lending facilities. The mechanism links the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) interest rate structure to world interest rates and provides a setting to differentiate interest rates across the various PRGT facilities. The framework requires reviews every two years, with the first such review to be completed by December 31, 2011.
November 22, 2011
A New Rule for Setting the Margin for the Basic Rate of Charge
Description: In April 2008, the Executive Board adopted a package of measures to reform the Fund’s income model. This followed an intensive work program building on the recommendations of an independent committee appointed by the Managing Director to study options for sustainable long-term financing for the Fund. The resulting new income model aims to broaden the Fund’s income sources and reduce its reliance on lending income as the primary source of revenue. This new model includes: (i) creating an endowment funded with the profits from a limited sale of the Fund’s gold holdings; (ii) expanding the Fund’s investment authority to enhance the expected return on the Fund’s investments; and (iii) resuming the practice of reimbursing the General Resources Account (GRA) for the cost of administering the PRG Trust.
November 16, 2011
The WTO Doha Trade Round - Unlocking the Negotiations and Beyond
Description: This note provides an update on the status of Doha negotiations and an outlook on significant non-Doha trade issues that should be tackled in the near future. Section II investigates what has stalled progress on Doha since the IMF Executive Board was last briefed in October 2008 (World Bank and IMF, 2008). Section III illustrates that notable gains would come from a Doha conclusion, both from actual new market access and--perhaps more crucially--from the added trade security that Doha would bring. However, Section IV suggests that the time may now have come to devote more resources to discussing important non-Doha issues at the WTO. Section V concludes that the Fund should continue to support both a Doha conclusion as well as the important work on non-Doha issues.
November 14, 2011
Cross-Cutting Themes in Advanced Economies with Emerging Market Banking Links
Description:
The most recent decade has seen a growing presence of banks headquartered in advanced economies (AEs) expanding into emerging markets (EMs). These expansions have brought some benefits to both home and host countries, but the global financial crisis has also unmasked significant vulnerabilities inherent in such relationships.
In keeping with past cross-cutting themes papers, this paper focuses on the experiences of four medium-sized ―home countries,‖ each with significant retail banking links to EMs—Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Spain. These countries were chosen because of their banks' diverse approaches to EM expansion (including the centralization of their funding models) and equally diverse crisis outcomes (fears over Eastern European exposures resulted in extraordinary policy efforts to maintain bank lending), providing fertile ground for analysis and for drawing lessons in the future.
November 8, 2011
Initiative for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) and Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI)-Status of Implementation and Proposals for the Future of the HIPC Initiative
Description: This report aims to accomplish three objectives: (a) it provides an update on the status of implementation, impact, and costs of the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Initiative and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI); (b) it proposes a modification of the reporting of progress under the initiatives, including the discontinuation of the annual status of implementation reports, and the preparation of periodic reports on debt vulnerabilities in low income countries (LICs), including HIPCs; and (c) it proposes a further ring-fencing of the list of countries eligible or potentially eligible for debt relief under the HIPC Initiative based on end-2010 income and indebtedness criteria.
November 1, 2011
Review of the Flexible Credit Line and Precautionary Credit Line
Description:
With the creation of the Flexible Credit Line (FCL) and Precautionary Credit Line (PCL), the Fund’s GRA toolkit was overhauled to address gaps in the Fund’s crisis prevention and resolution toolkit. The innovative and flexible nature of the new instruments was meant to reduce stigma from using Fund resources, underpinning confidence in its users amid stressed market conditions. Yet, there have been a limited number of members with these Using a variety of methodological tools, this review assesses experience with the instruments, arrangements. Using a variety of methodological tools, this review assesses experience with the instruments, reflects on the appropriateness of their design, and recommends refinements to enhance their effectiveness.
The Fund’s Financing Role—Reform Proposals on Liquidity and Emergency Assistance
The Fund’s Financing Role—Reform Proposals on Liquidity and Emergency Assistance—Proposed Decisions
The Fund’s Financing Role—Reform Proposals on Liquidity and Emergency Assistance—Decisions
October 31, 2011
Statement by the Managing Director on the Work Program of the Executive Board - Executive Board Meeting - October 31, 2011
Description: The global economy has entered a dangerous new phase with severe downside risks. The Fund has been called by the IMFC to contribute to an orderly resolution of these tensions, and the membership must be prepared for bold action. Our first responsibility is to help develop and coordinate solutions to immediate threats to global stability, in particular to provide insightful analysis and policy advice to address fiscalfinancial vulnerabilities and rekindle growth and job creation. Yet we must also be prepared to fortify the global financial safety net. Secondly, we must redouble efforts to make the international monetary system (IMS) stronger in the longer term—through more effective surveillance and a clearer shared vision of the system’s key underpinnings.
October 31, 2011
Managing Volatility in Low-Income Countries - The Role and Potential for Contingent Financial Instruments
Description: The paper examines the case for contingent financial instruments for low-income countries (LICs), from both the market and official sector. These include commodity price hedging instruments, contingent debt instruments (commodity-linked bonds, deferred repayment loans), and natural disaster insurance, for example. The paper considers the adequacy of the existing framework of ex post and ex ante support to LICs facing exogenous shocks, and examines the need for and possible constraints to greater availability of contingent instruments. Would there be a role for the international community, particularly the IMF and World Bank, in helping to address the constraints that limit development and use of these instruments?
October 28, 2011
The Fund's Financing Role - Reform Proposals on Liquidity and Emergency Assistance
Description:
The possible global repercussions from the ongoing turmoil in the Euro Area and recent calls for enhanced emergency assistance in the Middle East and North African region are reminders of the urgent need for a more effective global financial safety net to deal with increased interconnectedness and volatility. Past work by staff identified gaps in the Fund’s lending toolkit to respond to liquidity needs of members with relatively strong fundamentals affected during systemic crises (the crisis bystanders), and to address urgent financing needs arising in a broader range of circumstances than natural disasters and post-conflict situations. The companion paper on the Review of the Flexible Credit Line (FCL) and Precautionary Credit Line (PCL) also identified gaps in the overall flexibility of the financing toolkit. This paper provides proposals to fill these gaps, while preserving the simplicity and coherence of the lending framework, and balancing members’ financing needs against the need for adequate safeguards for the use of Fund resources.
The Fund’s Financing Role—Reform Proposals on Liquidity and Emergency Assistance—Proposed Decisions
The Fund’s Financing Role—Reform Proposals on Liquidity and Emergency Assistance—Decisions
Review of the Flexible Credit Line and Precautionary Credit Line