Policy Papers
2010
April 20, 2010
Benin - Assessment Letter for the World Bank
Description: This letter provides an assessment of recent macroeconomic developments in Benin and an update on the discussions of Fund staff with the Beninese authorities on macroeconomic policies and structural reforms that could form the basis for the authorities’ request for a new arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF). An earlier assessment letter to donors was issued in December 2009 and is available at http://www.imf.org/external/pp/longres.aspx?id=4399.
April 20, 2010
Statement by the Managing Director to the International Monetary and Financial Committee on the IMF Reform Agenda
Description: We cannot allow the return of economic stability to signify a return to "business as usual" for the IMF. The crisis exposed huge cracks in the international financial architecture of which the Fund is a key part. We have an historic responsibility to fix them. I urge all of us to recommit to seeing our collective goals to the finish line before reform fatigue sets in.
April 20, 2010
Update on the Financing of the Fund’s Concessional Assistance and Debt Relief to Low-Income Member Countries
Description:
This paper reviews the status of financing for the Fund’s concessional lending and debt relief activities for low-income countries (LICs). It is based on the latest available data and projections, and it takes into account the commitments made so far in response to the Managing Director’s fund-raising request of August 2009.
The paper is organized as follows. Section II summarizes: (i) the comprehensive reforms of the Fund’s concessional lending instruments and the associated financing framework that have become effective since the last review; and (ii) the measures that the Board recently endorsed to facilitate the needed mobilization of loan resources. Section III on the financing of PRGT operations begins by reviewing the projected financing needs established in July 2009 in light of recent commitments under the PRGT, and then considers the status of loan and subsidy resources, before discussing developments in the PRGT Reserve Account. Sections IV and V provide updates on the subsidization of emergency assistance and the financing of debt relief under the HIPC and MDRI.
April 19, 2010
Provisional Agenda for the Twenty-First Meeting of the International Monetary and Financial Committee
Description: The following is the provisional agenda for the Twenty-First Meeting of the International Monetary and Financial Committee, which is to be convened at the Fund’s Headquarters in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, April 24, 2010. A joint working dinner of IMFC members and G-20 ministers will be held on Friday, April 23 at 7:30 p.m. in HQ1–Meeting Halls A & B. The IMFC meeting will be followed by the press conference of the IMFC Chairman and the Managing Director at 2:30 p.m.
April 16, 2010
Cross-Cutting Themes in Economies with Large Banking Systems
Description:
This paper examines cross-country perspectives on economies with large banking systems relative to GDP. As such economies tend to have domestic institutions with major foreign currency cross-border activities, strong links are generated between the health of the financial system and sovereign sustainability. These links are of central interest to the paper. It does not cover off-shore centers as their international links tend to be relatively unrelated to domestic activities.
To make the analysis more concrete, the experience of five economies—Hong Kong SAR, Iceland, Ireland, Singapore, and Switzerland—are featured (plus a Box on the Benelux region). These economies had large and relatively diversified international banking sectors compared to their fiscal capacity before the global financial crisis of 2007–09, and divergent experiences over the crisis. The paper analyzes the reasons for these outcomes. (A range of private and public sector individuals were interviewed during missions to Belgium, Hong Kong SAR, Ireland, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.)
April 15, 2010
Establishment of an Administered Account for Interim Holdings of Voluntary Contributions for Fund Activities and Establishment of a Framework Administered Account for Selected Fund Activities - Subaccount for the Administration of Selected Smaller-Scale Capacity Building Activities
Description: This paper proposes that the Fund establish an administered account and a subaccount under the Framework Instrument for Selected Fund Activities (the “SFA”), to enhance the new external financing architecture for capacity building and related Fund activities. The specific accounts proposed to be established are: (1) an administered account for interim holdings of voluntary contributions for Fund activities, that would primarily accommodate contributions from donors for Fund activities that are planned but not yet fully developed (“The Interim Holding Administered Account,” hereinafter, the “Holding Account”); and (2) a Subaccount for the administration of selected smaller-scale capacity building and related activities (the “Catch-All Subaccount”) under the SFA Instrument, which would facilitate the administration of external funds for smaller, one-off projects.
April 14, 2010
Review of the Fund’s Income Position for FY 2010 and FY 2011
Description:
This paper reviews the Fund’s income position for FY 2010 and FY 2011. The paper updates projections provided at the FY 2010 midyear review and sets out related proposed decisions for the current and next financial years.
The paper is structured as follows: Section II reviews the FY 2010 income position and the main changes from the midyear projections; Section III makes proposals on the disposition of FY 2010 net income, which includes the General Resources Account (GRA) net operational income and profits from the limited gold sales; Section IV discusses the FY 2011 income outlook, the margin on the rate of charge, and projected burden sharing adjustments; and Section V reviews special charges.
April 13, 2010
The Fund’s Liquidity Position—Review and Outlook
Description: This paper reviews the Fund’s liquidity position. The review covers the Fund’s financial activities for the period September 11, 2009 through March 31, 2010, and also discusses recent developments likely to influence the Fund’s liquidity position. Against this backdrop, it examines the outlook for liquidity using the one-year Forward Commitment Capacity (FCC), the primary measure of the Fund’s liquidity, which is calculated taking into account supplementary resources made available under borrowing arrangements, including note purchase agreements.
April 13, 2010
Reserve Accumulation and International Monetary Stability - Supplementary Information
Description:
The modern history of the international monetary system (IMS) starts with the shift from a bimetallic system to the Gold Standard in the 1870s and 1880s. Under the Gold Standard, the major national currencies were freely convertible to gold at a fixed exchange rate, with adjustment largely undertaken through flexible prices, wages and income. This system survived up to the outbreak of the First World War, and while it was subsequently re-established in a modified form following a painful period of post-war disinflation, the economic and political strains of the Great Depression led to the system’s ultimate collapse in the 1930s.
Negotiations between the U.K. and U.S. in the 1940s led to the post war emergence of the Bretton Woods system of fixed and adjustable exchange rates tied to the dollar, with the dollar fixed to gold and the IMF established to oversee the system. However, this system too faced repeated strains, and with the dollar’s link to gold broken and most major currencies floating in the early 1970s, the current arrangements centered on floating currencies were born. The U.S. dollar remained the key reserve currency in the new system, with U.S. Treasury Bills the major reserve asset.
April 13, 2010
Reserve Accumulation and International Monetary Stability
Description: The last comprehensive discussion of reform of the international monetary system (IMS)—the set of official arrangements that regulate key dimensions of balance of payments—international reserves, exchange rates, current payments, and capital flows—was held nearly four decades ago. In light of repeated and costly international financial crises since then, it is timely to review the structure of the IMS to assess how it can be strengthened and made more resilient. At issue is the confluence of, on one side, an unprecedented build-up in global current account imbalances and volatile cross border capital flows, accompanied by a sharp build-up of international reserves, and on the other side, the concentration of those reserves in a few reserve currencies facing new challenges in maintaining fiscal and financial stability. As pre-crisis trends appear set to resume, this tension calls for examining their broader implications for the stability and efficiency of the current system. While the paper views the problems of the IMS through this prism in the tension between high reserve demand and narrow reserve supply, it also inevitably touches on all the components of the IMS—exchange rate arrangements, capital flows, and the global adjustment process. It should also be seen in the broader context of the Fund’s recent work on IMS stability, which started with a paper focused on exchange rate arrangements last summer and will continue in coming months with another on capital flows.