Press Release No. 04/45

Press Release: IMF Releasing Semiannual Reports on the Incidence of Longer-Term Program Engagement

March 5, 2004

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has decided that semiannual reports on the incidence of longer-term IMF program engagement will be made public. The preparation of these reports is an element of the IMF's response to the report on Prolonged Use of Fund Resources prepared in 2002 by the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO).

Staff have begun to conduct ex post assessments of members with longer-term Fund engagement. The ex post assessments are intended to provide an analysis of the economic problems facing a country, and to serve as a critical and frank review of economic progress during the period of an IMF-supported program. It is also intended that the assessments will establish a basis for a forward-looking analysis that takes into account lessons learned and formulates a potential strategy to reduce a country's reliance on IMF resources in the future.

The first semiannual report provides information on members with longer-term program engagements as of end-December 2003, those members for which ex post assessments have already been discussed at the Executive Board, and the projected schedule of ex post assessments over the first half of 2004.