Policy Papers
2009
September 9, 2009
Creating Policy Space - Responsive Design and Streamlined Conditionality in Recent Low-Income Country Programs
Description: An analysis of recent programs in low-income countries, covering countries with continuous program engagement with the IMF throughout the period 2007-09, shows that program design has been adapted to provide expanded policy space in response to the food and fuel price shocks of 2007-08 and to the global financial crisis that followed. The analysis also finds that structural conditionality in Fund-supported programs in low-income countries has become more streamlined, with a dominant focus on public sector resource management and accountability.
September 2, 2009
Note Purchase Agreement Between the People's Bank of China and the International Monetary Fund
Description: In light of the international effort to ensure the adequacy of the financial resources available to the Fund, and with a view to supporting the Fund’s ability to provide timely and effective balance of payments assistance, particularly to developing and emerging market countries affected by the global financial crisis, the PBC agrees to purchase from the Fund promissory notes.
September 2, 2009
Borrowing Agreement Between Deutsche Bundesbank and the International Monetary Fund
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, Deutsche Bundesbank agrees to lend to the Fund an SDR-denominated amount up to the equivalent of EUR 15 billion.
September 2, 2009
Statement of Surveillance Priorities-Revisions of Economic Priorities and Progress on Operational Priorities
Description: This paper recommends changes to the economic priorities of the Statement of Surveillance Priorities (SSP) and provides an update on actions taken towards implementing the operational priorities.
September 1, 2009
Borrowing Agreement with the Government of the United Kingdom
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 Government of the United Kingdom, acting through Her Majesty's Treasury, agrees to lend to the Fund up to the equivalent of SDR 9.92 billion.
August 28, 2009
Financial Sector Assessment Program After Ten Years-Experience and Reforms for the Next Decade
Description:
Ten years after its inception, the FSAP has established itself as an important instrument for assessing financial systems around the world. More than three-quarters of the membership have volunteered for FSAP assessments or agreed to do so in the near future, including almost all the G20 countries. Previous reviews have confirmed that the FSAP has helped deepen the understanding of countries’ financial sectors and linkages with the rest of the economy, enriched the policy dialogue, and ensured consistency of Bank and the Fund advice, the last being a feature highly valued by participating countries. As also noted in the Malan Report, the collaborative nature of the FSAP adds value by effectively addressing areas of financial sector policy where developmental and stability concerns are interlinked and overlap and by facilitating knowledge spillovers between the two institutions. These past reviews have noted, however, the need to make the FSAP more flexible, responsive, and continuous, to deepen and strengthen the analytical toolkit, and to integrate the FSAP more closely with the Bank’s and the Fund’s other financial sector work.
The Financial Sector Assessment Program After Ten Years: Background Material
August 28, 2009
Financial Sector and Bilateral Surveillance - Toward Further Integration
Description: The Fund has continued to make great efforts to enhance financial sector focus and analytics in bilateral surveillance. The main initiatives include enhancing collaboration with other multilateral institutions, improving analytical tools and methodologies, and a major strengthening of the financial sector capabilities in area departments. The fruits of these efforts are already visible in the better treatment of financial sector issues in Article IV reports
August 28, 2009
Revised Approach to Financial Regulation and Supervision Standards Assessments in FSAP Updates
Description: The Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) is a central instrument for the Fund and Bank to promote financial sector soundness in member countries. The FSAP uses quantitative analysis and qualitative tools to help identify the risks and vulnerabilities of a country’s financial system, ascertain the sector’s developmental needs, and prioritize policy responses. Detailed assessments of the observance of relevant financial sector standards and codes, and the associated Reports on Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSCs) have been an important component of the FSAP.
August 28, 2009
Guidance Note for Fund Staff on the Treatment and Use of SDR Allocations
Description: Against the backdrop of the global financial crisis, the IMF has decided to implement a US$250 billion general allocation of special drawing rights (SDRs). In addition, the Fourth Amendment of the Fund’s Articles of Agreement has recently become effective, and will make available to SDR Department participants a special allocation of up to an additional SDR 21.5 billion (US$33 billion). Nearly US$115 billion of these combined allocations will go to emerging market and developing countries, including about US$20 billion to low-income countries (LICs), thereby providing an important boost to the reserves of countries with the greatest needs.
August 27, 2009
Quotas - Updated Calculations and Quota Variables
Description: In its April 2009 Communiqué, the IMFC called for a prompt start to the Fourteenth General Review of Quotas so that it is completed by January 2011--some two years ahead of schedule. The IMFC noted that the review is expected to result in increases in the quota shares of dynamic economies, particularly in the share of emerging market and developing countries as a whole. The IMFC also looked forward to further work by the Executive Board on elements of the new quota formula that can be improved before the formula is used again, and noted that this work should start before the 2009 Annual Meetings.