Policy Papers
2010
February 22, 2010
Broadening Financial Indicators in the Special Data Dissemination Standard
Description:
In December 2008, the IMF Executive Board discussed the Seventh Review of Data Standards Initiatives, and Directors requested staff to return to the Board within about a year with a proposal for the inclusion of selected financial indicators in the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS). This paper responds to the 2008 request taking into account recent developments.
The recent financial crisis has heightened the need for policymakers, financial regulators and capital market participants to put in place conditions that would help prevent the occurrence of similar crises in the future. One of the areas identified by the international community as key in crises prevention is the availability of timely and more detailed financial data that could provide early warning signals of impending risks and vulnerabilities.
February 12, 2010
Borrowing Agreement with National Bank of Belgium
Description: In light of the multilateral effort to ensure the adequacy of the financial resources available to the International Monetary Fund, and with a view to supporting the Fund’s ability to provide timely and effective balance of payments assistance to its members, the National Bank of Belgium agrees to lend to the Fund an SDR denominated amount up to the equivalent of EUR 4.74 billion, on the terms and conditions set out in this policy paper.
February 12, 2010
Borrowing Agreement with Slovak Republic
Description: In light of the multilateral effort to ensure the adequacy of the financial resources available to the International Monetary Fund, and with a view to supporting the Fund's ability to provide timely and effective balance of payments assistance to its members, the Slovak Republic agrees to lend to the Fund an SDR-denominated amount up to the equivalent of EUR 440 million, on the terms and conditions set in this policy paper.
February 4, 2010
Exiting from Crisis Intervention Policies
Description:
This paper identifies broad principles for exiting from extraordinary and unprecedented crisis-related intervention policies implemented by countries across the globe following the onset of the crisis in the summer of 2007. It responds to the requests of the IMFC and the Board to make Fund advice and views on exiting from crisis-related intervention measures more concrete. Drawing on previous and ongoing work by staff, it mostly focuses on medium and large advanced and emerging market economies, in which interventions have been more substantial.
See also background papers:
Strategies for Fiscal Consolidation in the Post-Crisis World
Exiting from Monetary Crisis Intervention Measures—Background Paper
The Role of Indicators in Guiding the Exit from Monetary and Financial Crisis Intervention Measures—Background Paper
January 27, 2010
Borrowing Agreement with the Oesterreichische Nationalbank
Description: In light of the multilateral effort to ensure the adequacy of the financial resources available to the International Monetary Fund (the “Fund”), and with a view to supporting the Fund’s ability to provide timely and effective balance of payments assistance to its members, the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (“OeNB”) agrees to lend to the Fund an SDR-denominated amount up to the equivalent of EUR 2.18 billion, on the terms and conditions set out in this paper.
January 25, 2010
Staff Guidance Note on the Application of the Joint Fund-Bank Debt Sustainability Framework for Low-Income Countries
Description: The objective of the joint Bank-Fund debt sustainability framework for low-income countries is to support LICs in their efforts to achieve their development goals without creating future debt problems. Countries that have received debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) need to be kept on a sustainable track. Under the framework, country DSAs are prepared jointly by Bank and Fund staff, with close collaboration between the two staffs on the design of the macroeconomic baseline, alternative scenarios, the debt distress rating, and the drafting of the write-up.
January 25, 2010
Operational Guidance Note on Conditionality—December 2009 Revisions
Description:
The 2000-02 comprehensive review of the Fund’s conditionality culminated in the adoption of a set of conditionality guidelines by the Executive Board on September 25, 2002.
The 2002 Conditionality Guidelines (the “guidelines”) replace the 1979 Conditionality Guidelines and the Interim Guidance Note on Streamlining Structural Conditionality of September 18, 2000. A review of experience with the guidelines, looking at how they have been implemented and at their impact, is conducted periodically; summary statistics on conditionality have been prepared annually since 2008.
January 22, 2010
The Fund’s Mandate - An Overview
Description: This paper, and a companion piece on legal aspects “The Fund’s Mandate—The Legal Framework,” is the first in a series of reflections on the Fund’s mandate—on what it should be doing to promote global stability and how the membership might support that process. At this stage, the aim is not to put forward concrete proposals but to float ideas with a view to stimulating a broader debate. Follow up papers, based on feedback from the Executive Board and public outreach, are planned ahead of the final report to the IMFC in September.
January 22, 2010
The Fund's Mandate-The Legal Framework
Description: This paper is intended to accompany “The Fund’s Role and Mandate—An Overview” (the “Mandate Overview Paper”). Taking into account the issues raised in the Mandate Overview Paper and, in particular, the potential areas for reform that it identifies, this paper provides a brief analysis of both the constraints and flexibility that exist under the existing legal framework. At the outset, it is useful to identify several aspects of this framework that are of particular relevance.
January 11, 2010
Framework Administered Account for Selected Fund Activities-Norway Subaccount for Selected Fund Activities
Description: The Fund, represented by the Managing Director, has reached understandings with Norway acting through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ("Norway"), to finance capacity building, training and related activities. On the basis of these understandings, the Managing Director has established the essential terms and conditions of the Subaccount, with which Norway concurs, with respect to the nature, design, and implementation of the activities to be financed and the method by which the costs of the activities will be financed from the Subaccount.