Policy Papers
2005
September 8, 2005
Review of PRGF-HIPC Financing, the Adequacy of the Reserve Account of the PRGF Trust, and Subsidization of Emergency Assistance
Description: Provides the basis for the semi-annual decision on the adequacy of the Reserve Account of the PRGF Trust. It also updates the status of resources for financing PRGF operations and the HIPC Initiative and bilateral contributions to the subsidization of emergency assistance.
September 2, 2005
Quotas and Voice - Further Considerations
Description: This paper takes stock of the progress made in quota discussions to date, and examines options for adjustments in quotas or voting power outside of a general quota increase. Section II reviews the status of recent quota discussions, while Section III presents the results of updating the data through 2003. Section IV discusses the options for addressing the distribution of quotas and voting power outside of a general increase in quotas. Section V concludes and poses some issues for discussion.
September 2, 2005
Implementation of the Policy Support Instrument
Description: Within the terms of the proposed decisions, staff has formulated specific proposals on a number of issues raised in general terms during the previous Board discussion: (i) the modalities for a fixed schedule of reviews, including how to signal that a program is back on track; (ii) the application of a misreporting framework under the PSI; and (iii) the relationship between the PSI and the PRS process.
August 31, 2005
Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism - Observations from the Work Program and Implications Going Forward
Description: This paper provides a summary of the IMF and the World Bank work programs on anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism following the Fund and Bank Boards' decisions in March 2004 to endorse the revised FATF standard (2003 version) and methodology for the purposes of preparing ROSCs and to expand the areas of Bank/Fund responsibility to cover the revised FATF standard comprehensively. It draws lessons on what has worked well and the challenges and discusses the work program going forward.
August 31, 2005
Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism - Observations from the Work Program and Implications Going Forward - Supplementary Information
Description: The first part presents the findings concerning overall compliance with the revised standard and methodology and the second part compares these findings to those of assessments under the old methodology. The third part discusses interpretative and application issues and the fourth describes logistical issues based on the experience of the assessments carried out to date.
August 24, 2005
Review of the Fund's Strategy on Overdue Financial Obligations
Description: Reviews progress under the Fund's strengthened cooperative strategy on overdue financial obligations and proposes to extend the availability of the rights approach, which expires on August 31, 2005, by another year. The rights approach remains a potentially important element of the intensified collaborative approach for arrears clearance for the three members that remain eligible, Liberia, Somalia, and Sudan.
August 19, 2005
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative - Status of Implementation
Description: This report reviews progress and issues in implementing the enhanced HIPC Initiative. In addition to updating information on the delivery of HIPC debt relief and its estimated costs, it discusses two particular issues: the decline in the participation of commercial and non-Paris Club bilateral creditors to the Initiative; and the preliminary list of countries that satisfy the indebtedness eligibility criterion under the extended HIPC sunset clause.
August 16, 2005
Report on the Incidence of Longer-Term Program Engagement
August 15, 2005
Lao People's Democratic Republic - Assessment Letter for the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank
Description: This report provides an update of the assessment of Lao P.D.R.’s macroeconomic conditions and outlook presented at the time of the 2004 Article IV Consultation and in the Assessment Letter of March 10, 2005.
Notes: Assessment letters or statements may be prepared for member countries with Fund-supported programs; receiving Fund emergency assistance; with staff-monitored programs; or surveillance-only cases. They are typically produced for use by the country with multilateral or bilateral donors or creditors, in particular the World Bank and other International Financial Institutions.
August 12, 2005
Establishment and Operation of the Investment Account
Description: Directors expressed strong support for exploring in more detail the possibility of establishing the Investment Account (IA) during the March 2005 seminar on the Review of the Fund’s Finances and Financial Structure. The Second Amendment of the Fund’s Articles of Agreement which became effective in 1978 authorized the Fund to establish an IA in the General Department.