Members with Outstanding Purchases

Pursuant to paragraph 2 of the Executive Board Decision No. 6274-(79/158), Procedures for the Sale of Currencies at the Request of the Executive Board approves the procedures set out in SM/79/277 (11/29/79).

Decision No. 6352-(79/183),

December 12, 1979

SM/79/277

Procedures

• 1. Executive Board Decision No. 6274-(79/158) on the selection of currencies by the Fund contains the following paragraph.

  2. Under procedures to be adopted, the currency of a member with outstanding purchases subject to repurchase, whose balance of payments and gross reserve position is judged sufficiently strong for the purposes of operational budgets and designation plans, normally will be sold by the Fund under Article V, Section 3(d) only if the member and the Fund agree.

  …

  5. … [T]he following procedural guidelines are suggested. They place stress on consultations between the Managing Director and the member concerned prior to the submission by the Managing Director to the Executive Board of a proposal agreed with the member on a maximum amount of sales of its currency and on the way in which these sales would be integrated in the operational budget. The guidelines are intended to provide a reasonable degree of flexibility for the Managing Director to make proposals that would be acceptable both to the member that wished its currency to be sold and to the Executive Board.

  • a. As far as practicable, a member with outstanding purchases that wishes its currency to be sold by the Fund would be expected to consult with the Managing Director before the end of the second month of the quarterly period prior to the beginning of the period in which the currency would be sold. This will enable a proposal for the sale of the currency to be incorporated in the next operational budget. However, the Managing Director might also propose an amendment to an existing budget. The qualification “as far as practicable” is included in order to provide some flexibility; one reason for this is that a member may not know that its balance of payments and reserve position is judged “sufficiently strong” for the purposes of the next designation plan and operational budget until the relevant documents are circulated to the Executive Board.

    b. Following the consultation, and with the agreement of the member concerned, the Managing Director will make a proposal to the Executive Board in accordance with paragraph (c) below that the currency be included in the operational budget. The Managing Director’s proposal will cover the way in which the sales of the currency will be integrated with the sales of other currencies and SDRs in the execution of the operational budget. While in each case the decision on sales of a currency would rest with the Executive Board, there would be a reasonable presumption that a proposal made in accordance with these guidelines would be accepted.

    c. Proposals by the Managing Director for sales of a currency of a member with purchases outstanding would be guided by the following considerations:

    • (i) Proposals would not normally be made for sales of currencies if such sales would give rise to repayments of borrowing by the Fund, or if they would be attributed by the member to repurchase obligations falling due within the quarterly period of the budget.

      (ii) The amounts of currency involved should not be such as to detract significantly from the promotion of balanced positions in the Fund or the aim of maintaining the SDR holdings of the General Resources Account within a particular range.