Press Release No. 16/536

IMF and the Sveriges Riksbank Sign SDR 500 Million Borrowing Agreement to Support Lending to Low-Income Countries

December 2, 2016

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), as Trustee of the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT), and the Sveriges Riksbank, representing Sweden, have signed a borrowing agreement through which Sweden will provide up to SDR 500 million (about US$678 million) in new loan resources for the PRGT benefitting the IMF’s low-income member countries.

This agreement, made effective on November 17, 2016, is the first PRGT borrowing agreement with Sweden and among the first three PRGT loan contributions to take effect under the current fund-raising campaign (see Press Releases No. 16/534 and 16/535 ). Following the Executive Board’s endorsement, the Managing Director launched this campaign in November 2015 with a target of SDR 11 billion in new bilateral loan resources. ( Update on the Financing of the Fund's Concessional Assistance and Debt Relief to Low-Income Member Countries ).

Sweden’s generous contribution is a critical step towards raising available loan resources to sustain the Fund’s concessional lending operations over the medium-term.

Useful links :

Factsheet: Financing the IMF's Concessional Lending to Low-Income Countries

Factsheet: Where the Fund gets its Money