Policy Papers
2011
November 8, 2011
Initiative for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) and Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI)-Status of Implementation and Proposals for the Future of the HIPC Initiative
Description: This report aims to accomplish three objectives: (a) it provides an update on the status of implementation, impact, and costs of the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Initiative and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI); (b) it proposes a modification of the reporting of progress under the initiatives, including the discontinuation of the annual status of implementation reports, and the preparation of periodic reports on debt vulnerabilities in low income countries (LICs), including HIPCs; and (c) it proposes a further ring-fencing of the list of countries eligible or potentially eligible for debt relief under the HIPC Initiative based on end-2010 income and indebtedness criteria.
November 1, 2011
Review of the Flexible Credit Line and Precautionary Credit Line
Description:
With the creation of the Flexible Credit Line (FCL) and Precautionary Credit Line (PCL), the Fund’s GRA toolkit was overhauled to address gaps in the Fund’s crisis prevention and resolution toolkit. The innovative and flexible nature of the new instruments was meant to reduce stigma from using Fund resources, underpinning confidence in its users amid stressed market conditions. Yet, there have been a limited number of members with these Using a variety of methodological tools, this review assesses experience with the instruments, arrangements. Using a variety of methodological tools, this review assesses experience with the instruments, reflects on the appropriateness of their design, and recommends refinements to enhance their effectiveness.
The Fund’s Financing Role—Reform Proposals on Liquidity and Emergency Assistance
The Fund’s Financing Role—Reform Proposals on Liquidity and Emergency Assistance—Proposed Decisions
The Fund’s Financing Role—Reform Proposals on Liquidity and Emergency Assistance—Decisions
October 31, 2011
Statement by the Managing Director on the Work Program of the Executive Board - Executive Board Meeting - October 31, 2011
Description: The global economy has entered a dangerous new phase with severe downside risks. The Fund has been called by the IMFC to contribute to an orderly resolution of these tensions, and the membership must be prepared for bold action. Our first responsibility is to help develop and coordinate solutions to immediate threats to global stability, in particular to provide insightful analysis and policy advice to address fiscalfinancial vulnerabilities and rekindle growth and job creation. Yet we must also be prepared to fortify the global financial safety net. Secondly, we must redouble efforts to make the international monetary system (IMS) stronger in the longer term—through more effective surveillance and a clearer shared vision of the system’s key underpinnings.
October 31, 2011
Managing Volatility in Low-Income Countries - The Role and Potential for Contingent Financial Instruments
Description: The paper examines the case for contingent financial instruments for low-income countries (LICs), from both the market and official sector. These include commodity price hedging instruments, contingent debt instruments (commodity-linked bonds, deferred repayment loans), and natural disaster insurance, for example. The paper considers the adequacy of the existing framework of ex post and ex ante support to LICs facing exogenous shocks, and examines the need for and possible constraints to greater availability of contingent instruments. Would there be a role for the international community, particularly the IMF and World Bank, in helping to address the constraints that limit development and use of these instruments?
October 28, 2011
The Fund's Financing Role - Reform Proposals on Liquidity and Emergency Assistance
Description:
The possible global repercussions from the ongoing turmoil in the Euro Area and recent calls for enhanced emergency assistance in the Middle East and North African region are reminders of the urgent need for a more effective global financial safety net to deal with increased interconnectedness and volatility. Past work by staff identified gaps in the Fund’s lending toolkit to respond to liquidity needs of members with relatively strong fundamentals affected during systemic crises (the crisis bystanders), and to address urgent financing needs arising in a broader range of circumstances than natural disasters and post-conflict situations. The companion paper on the Review of the Flexible Credit Line (FCL) and Precautionary Credit Line (PCL) also identified gaps in the overall flexibility of the financing toolkit. This paper provides proposals to fill these gaps, while preserving the simplicity and coherence of the lending framework, and balancing members’ financing needs against the need for adequate safeguards for the use of Fund resources.
The Fund’s Financing Role—Reform Proposals on Liquidity and Emergency Assistance—Proposed Decisions
The Fund’s Financing Role—Reform Proposals on Liquidity and Emergency Assistance—Decisions
Review of the Flexible Credit Line and Precautionary Credit Line
October 27, 2011
Managing Director's Statement on Strengthening Surveillance - 2011 Triennial Surveillance Review
Description: After inputs from country authorities, outside experts, and staff; after extensive deliberations at the Executive Board; after further guidance from ministers and governors at the IMFC meetings—after all that, we need to move from diagnosis to action. The goal of making surveillance as interconnected as the world economy remains an inherently long-term endeavor. Nevertheless, building on recent progress, we can do better even in the near term. I want to take this opportunity to put forward some specific measures, based on Executive Directors’ many thoughtful comments and suggestions (Table 1).
October 24, 2011
The Multilateral Aspects of Policies Affecting Capital Flows - Background Paper
Description:
The case studies document the regulatory and supervisory dimension of episodes during the recent crisis involving capital flows that generated systemic stress. Source country regulation and supervision is the main focus, although recipient country policies also were important in some cases and are thus covered as well.
Three of the case studies are motivated by systemic stress that arose from flows between advanced economies. Strong demand by foreign investors for U.S. financial products helped drive gross flows between the United States and other countries, especially Europe, and induced the U.S. financial sector to develop products that transformed their risky assets into highly-rated securities. In turn, large European banks came to depend on short-term liquidity provided from the U.S. These two-way capital flows created a complex web among markets and institutions, some regulated and some not. Against this background, case studies were prepared for European banks and U.S. money market mutual funds (MMMFs) and for German banks and U.S. mortgage-backed securities (MBSs). Another important case is that of the near failure of the American International Group (AIG), which turned out to have complex and systemically cross-border linkages with other global institutions and markets.
October 19, 2011
Report of the Task Force on the Fund's Technical Assistance Strategy
Description: Fund technical assistance (TA) has undergone major changes during the last few years. On the demand side, there is increased interest in a longer-term, implementation-oriented TA, “second generation” reforms, and in new topics. On the supply side, TA is increasingly financed by donors, and increasingly delivered through experts located in the field. These and other developments call for reassessing the Fund’s TA strategy.
October 13, 2011
The Multilateral Aspects of Policies Affecting Capital Flows
Description:
The crisis is prompting a reconsideration of capital flows and the policies that affect them. A breakdown in the domestic stability of a large country can spill over into stress in other countries and even to the global system as a whole. The activities of global institutions and markets—some regulated and some not—can bear on the riskiness of flows. Thus, national policies affecting capital flows can transmit multilaterally. This transmission has not been fully appreciated by national policymakers. Further, they may not have incentives to take full account of the cross-border effects of their policies. Looking ahead, the upward trend in the volume of capital flows can be expected to continue, making it ever more important to address the associated cross-border risks.
This paper aims to draw greater attention to the multilateral aspects of policies affecting capital flows. Previous work by the Fund has focused on the policies of recipient countries, mainly emerging market economies (EMEs), and addressed the circumstances in which capital flow management measures (CFMs) would be appropriate. This paper provides a complementary assessment of regulatory and supervisory policies of advanced economies, as well as large advanced economy monetary policy. Moreover, it addresses the multilateral transmission of CFMs.
October 5, 2011
Guidance Note on the New Design for Article IV Consultation Reports
Description: Earlier in 2011, Management approved a new design covering both the design and structure for stand-alone Article IV staff reports. All stand-alone Article IV reports issued to the Board after September 1 are being prepared in the new format. It is anticipated that this new design will be rolled out gradually over the course of the next fiscal year for other country reports and policy documents.