IMF Managing Director Opening Remarks for IMFC Press Conference

IMF News, April 8, 2021

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Canonical URL: IMF Managing Director Opening Remarks for IMFC Press Conference

Date: April 8, 2021
Event: Managing Director’s Press Conference following the Communiqué of the Forty-third Meeting of the IMFC and Spring Meetings 2021.
Themes referenced from Spring Meetings 2021: Bolstering the Recovery, Countering the Divergence; The Managing Director’s Global Policy Agenda, Spring Meetings 2021; Curtain Raiser Speech: Giving People a Fair Shot—Policies to Secure the Recovery.

"The global economy is on firmer footing."
Continued existence of many challenges that "can only be met through stronger international cooperation."
Encouragement by the IMFC’s support for multilateral approaches to strengthen the global economy and for the Fund’s agenda going forward.

Proposed SDR allocation amount: $650 billion.
Characterization: "a number of our members called it historic"; "this is the largest boost to reserves that our membership is giving us a mandate to follow up on."
Expected impacts:
- "It will provide a substantial liquidity boost to all our members, especially the most vulnerable."
- Will include "stepping up transparency to ensure good governance for everybody’s benefit."
- Innovation: enabling "some of our better-off members to be able to allocate their SDRs for the common purpose of bringing the more vulnerable members to a sounder position."
Timeline intent: "I hope we can update you in the next few months on how we are delivering on the mandate we have been given today."

Past response: IMF "stepped up in an unprecedented way—by providing critical new financing to a record number of countries as well as debt service relief."
Forward role: ensure that "our lending tools and policy advice offer the best possible support to help them navigate this difficult road ahead."

Described policy transition for member countries: from crisis to recovery, then to "mitigate and heal the economic scars" and to "seize opportunities for structural transformation."
Equity objective: "We want to make sure that everyone has a fair shot at building a better life."
Cross-cutting priorities mentioned for the Fund’s agenda: crisis response, SDR allocation, macro-critical aspects of climate change and digitalization.

Appreciation expressed to the IMFC Chair (Magdalena) for stewardship: "You did a fabulous job today by keeping us focused."
Expectation that the Chair will "steer our work, so that we do bring forward a more prosperous, green, and inclusive opportunity for everyone in the global economy."

IMF Managing Director Opening Remarks for IMFC Press Conference, April 8, 2021