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Lending

IMF financing is meant to help member countries tackle balance of payments problems, stabilize their economies, and restore sustainable economic growth. Unlike development banks, the IMF does not lend for specific projects. IMF financing can also be provided in response to natural disasters or pandemics. Finally, the IMF also provides precautionary financing to countries with sound policies that may have some remaining vulnerabilities, to help prevent and insure against future crises, and it continues to enhance the tools available for crisis prevention.

In broad terms, the IMF has two types of lending: loans provided at nonconcessional interest rates and loans provided to low-income countries on concessional terms. Concessional loans currently bear no interest.

Lending Map

Financial Assistance Approved in FY 2021 As of April 30, 2021 (in millions of special drawing rights, M SDR)

  • Afghanistan
    • Extended Credit Facility259M SDR
  • Angola
    • Extended Fund Facility540.4M SDR (Aug. of EFF)
  • Armenia
    • Stand-By Arrangement128.8M SDR (Aug. of SBA)
  • The Bahamas
    • Rapid Financing Instrument182.4M SDR
  • Bangladesh
    • Rapid Credit Facility177.8M SDR
    • Rapid Financing Instrument355.5M SDR
  • Barbados
    • Extended Fund Facility66M SDR (Aug. of EFF)
    • Extended Fund Facility48M SDR (Aug. of EFF)
  • Benin
    • Extended Credit Facility76M SDR (Aug. of ECF)
    • Rapid Credit Facility41.3M SDR
    • Rapid Financing Instrument82.5M SDR
  • Cameroon
    • Rapid Credit Facility165.6M SDR
    • Rapid Credit Facility110.4M SDR
  • Chad
    • Rapid Credit Facility49.1M SDR
  • Chile
    • Flexible Credit Line17,443M SDR
  • Colombia
    • Flexible Credit Line7,849.6M SDR
    • Flexible Credit Line4,417.4M SDR (Aug. of FCL)
  • Costa Rica
    • Extended Fund Facility1,237.5M SDR
  • Djibouti
    • Rapid Credit Facility31.8M SDR
  • Ecuador
    • Rapid Financing Instrument469.7M SDR
    • Extended Fund Facility4,615M SDR
  • Egypt
    • Rapid Financing Instrument2,037.1M SDR
    • Stand-By Arrangement3,763.6M SDR
  • Eswatini
    • Rapid Financing Instrument78.5M SDR
  • Gabon
    • Rapid Financing Instrument108M SDR
  • The Gambia
    • Extended Credit Facility20M SDR (Aug. of ECF)
  • Georgia
    • Extended Fund Facility273.6M SDR (Aug. of EFF)
  • Guatemala
    • Rapid Financing Instrument428.6M SDR
  • Guinea
    • Rapid Credit Facility107.1M SDR
  • Guinea-Bissau
    • Rapid Credit Facility14.2M SDR
  • Honduras
    • Stand-By Credit Facility54.1M SDR (Aug. of SCF)
    • Stand-By Arrangement108.2M SDR (Aug. of SBA)
  • Jamaica
    • Rapid Financing Instrument382.9M SDR
  • Jordan
    • Rapid Financing Instrument291.6M SDR
  • Kenya
    • Extended Credit Facility407.1M SDR
    • Rapid Credit Facility542.8M SDR
    • Extended Fund Facility1,248.4M SDR
  • Kyrgyz Republic
    • Rapid Credit Facility29.6M SDR
    • Rapid Financing Instrument59.2M SDR
  • Lesotho
    • Rapid Credit Facility11.7M SDR
    • Rapid Financing Instrument23.2M SDR
  • Liberia
    • Rapid Credit Facility36.2M SDR
  • Madagascar
    • Extended Credit Facility220M SDR
    • Rapid Credit Facility122.2M SDR
  • Malawi
    • Rapid Credit Facility66.4M SDR
    • Rapid Credit Facility72.3M SDR
  • Mauritania
    • Extended Credit Facility20.2M SDR (Aug. of ECF)
  • Mongolia
    • Rapid Financing Instrument72.3M SDR
  • Montenegro
    • Rapid Financing Instrument60.5M SDR
  • Myanmar
    • Rapid Credit Facility86.1M SDR
    • Rapid Credit Facility86.1M SDR
    • Rapid Financing Instrument172.3M SDR
    • Rapid Financing Instrument172.3M SDR
  • Namibia
    • Rapid Financing Instrument191.1M SDR
  • Nepal
    • Rapid Credit Facility156.9M SDR
  • Nicaragua
    • Rapid Credit Facility43.3M SDR
  • Panama
    • Precautionary and Liquidity Line1,884M SDR
  • Papua New Guinea
    • Rapid Credit Facility263.2M SDR
  • Peru
    • Flexible Credit Line8,007M SDR
  • Rwanda
    • Rapid Credit Facility80.1M SDR
  • São Tomé and Príncipe
    • Extended Credit Facility1.5M SDR (Aug. of ECF)
  • Seychelles
    • Rapid Financing Instrument22.9M SDR
  • Sierra Leone
    • Rapid Credit Facility103.7M SDR
    • Rapid Credit Facility35.3M SDR
  • Solomon Islands
    • Rapid Credit Facility6.9M SDR
    • Rapid Financing Instrument13.9M SDR
  • South Africa
    • Rapid Financing Instrument3,051.2M SDR
  • South Sudan
    • Rapid Credit Facility36.9M SDR
    • Rapid Credit Facility123M SDR
  • St. Vincent and the Grenadines
    • Rapid Credit Facility11.7M SDR
  • Tajikistan
    • Rapid Credit Facility139.2M SDR
  • Tonga
    • Rapid Credit Facility6.9M SDR
  • Uganda
    • Rapid Credit Facility361M SDR
  • Ukraine
    • Stand-By Arrangement3,600M SDR
  • Uzbekistan
    • Rapid Credit Facility92.1M SDR
    • Rapid Financing Instrument183.6M SDR

Click on a Lending Agreement to See More Info

From the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the IMF has responded with unprecedented speed and magnitude, making use of its current lending capacity of about $1 trillion.¹

This response has entailed provision of financial assistance to countries with urgent or potential balance of payments needs, with the aim of helping protect the lives and livelihoods of people, especially the most vulnerable. The Executive Board also temporarily streamlined internal processes early in the crisis to allow the IMF to respond more quickly to members’ requests for emergency assistance—and in many cases made emergency financing available within weeks of receiving a request.² In addition, the Executive Board temporarily suspended the application of existing high-access procedures for Rapid Credit Facility requests.³

Policy safeguards were introduced in August 2020 to help mitigate financial risks from a member having combined high access to both PRGT and General Resources Account (GRA) lending facilities. Safeguards now apply to any IMF member with combined access to GRA and PRGT resources that exceeds quota-based thresholds set at the same level that triggers the exceptional access framework of the GRA.

In addition, to accommodate high demand for IMF lending resulting from the crisis, the Executive Board temporarily increased (1) the annual access limit for the IMF’s GRA that triggers application of the exceptional access framework and (2) both the annual and cumulative access limits on concessional lending through the PRGT (see GRA and PRGT agreement details on Access Limits in the interactive lending map above).

Demand for IMF emergency financing tapered off beginning in the third quarter of 2020, and some borrowers have moved toward multiyear upper-credit-tranche-quality arrangements. In addition, the IMF provided grants for debt service relief to its poorest and most vulnerable members affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Between May 1, 2020, and April 30, 2021, the IMF’s financial assistance focused on the following areas:

  1. Emergency financing under the RFI and RCF

    The IMF received a record number of requests for emergency financing—from 39 countries (about $17 billion, of which $6 billion was disbursed to 26 low-income countries). The Executive Board temporarily doubled the access limits to the emergency financing facilities: the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) and Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) (see RCF and RFI agreement details on Access Limits in the interactive lending map above).

  2. Building on existing lending arrangements

    The IMF also augmented existing arrangements to accommodate urgent new needs arising from the pandemic within the context of the ongoing policy dialogue. Between May 1, 2020, and April 30, 2021, the Executive Board approved augmentation of arrangements with nine members.

  3. New lending arrangements, including precautionary arrangements:

    Between May 1, 2020 and April 30, 2021, the Executive Board approved eight new nonprecautionary IMF-supported arrangements with seven countries. In addition, four precautionary arrangements—three Flexible Credit Lines and one Precautionary and Liquidity Line—were made available to members.

  4. Debt service relief

    The Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT) allows the IMF to provide grants for debt relief to the poorest and most vulnerable member countries hit by catastrophic natural or public health disasters. It was enhanced in March 2020 and was subsequently used to provide debt service relief on a grant basis to the IMF's poorest members affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In total, 29 eligible countries have received debt service relief of close to SDR 520 million in three tranches, which were approved by the Executive Board on April 13, 2020; October 2, 2020; and April 1, 2021 (see CCRT agreement details in this table).

  5. Debt relief under the HIPC Initiative

    On March 25, 2020, following Somalia’s clearance of its arrears to the IMF, the Executive Board determined that Somalia was qualified for debt relief under the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative and that Somalia had reached its HIPC decision point. By the end of April 2021, the Executive Board had approved two interim assistance payments to Somalia in the total amount of SDR 1.791 million to cover its financial obligations falling due during the periods March 25, 2020–March 24, 2021, and March 25, 2021– March 24, 2022. On March 26, 2021, the Executive Board agreed that Sudan⁴ was eligible for debt relief assistance under the enhanced HIPC Initiative based on the preliminary assessment.was eligible for debt relief assistance under the enhanced HIPC Initiative based on the preliminary assessment.

  1. Including prepandemic commitments, as of April 30, 2021, total undisbursed lending commitments and credit outstanding under the IMF’s General Resources Account were about SDR 184 billion; the corresponding total under the PRGT, which provides concessional lending to low-income countries, was about SDR 14.8 billion.
  2. These emergency pandemic procedures lapsed in October 2020.
  3. High-access procedures require an informal Executive Board session based on a short staff note that includes discussion of program strength, capacity to repay, and debt vulnerabilities. The high-access procedures are triggered when (1) a request for IMF financing brings total access to more than 180 percent of a country’s quota over a 36-month period or (2) total outstanding credit from the PRGT exceeds or is projected to exceed 225 percent of a country’s quota. In March 2021, these high-access thresholds were temporarily increased to 240 percent of quota for the “flow trigger” through the end of 2023 and 300 percent for the “stock trigger” for the period through the end of June 2021.
  4. The Executive Boards of the IMF and World Bank approved Sudan’s eligibility for debt relief under the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative on June 29, 2021 (after this report was finalized). For more information, visit www.imf.org/sudan.