Policy Papers
2016
April 4, 2016
Progress Report to the International Monetary and Financial Committee on the Activities of the Independent Evaluation Office of the IMF
Description: This progress report presents the key conclusions and recommendations of the IEO evaluation of data and statistics at the IMF that was discussed by the Executive Board on March 17, 2016. It also summarizes the IMF's plan, approved by the Board in December 2015, for implementing the recommendations from the IEO evaluation of the IMF Response to the Financial and Economic Crisis and describes the IEO’s ongoing work.
April 1, 2016
Staff Note for the G-20—A Guiding Framework for Structural Reforms
Description: This note responds to a request from the G20 for IMF assistance in helping develop priorities and guiding principles for structural reforms. Structural reforms have long been a central element of the G20’s strategy of achieving job-rich growth, and G20 countries have made over 1,000 structural policy commitments in their national growth strategies. However, implementation of these commitments has been relatively weak so far. Faster progress on structural reforms is therefore needed to support growth in the near term and bolster potential growth in the medium term—and more generally to make economies more innovative, flexible, and resilient.
April 1, 2016
Update on the Financing of the Fund's Concessional Assistance and Debt Relief to Low-Income Member Countries
Description:
Better targeted support to LICs. In July 2015, the Executive Board approved measures to strengthen the financial safety net for low-income countries. Specifically, access norms and limits to the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) resources were increased by 50 percent and the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) interest rate was set permanently at zero. In addition, four countries graduated from PRGT eligibility. Together with a rebalancing of the mix of blended financing towards more use of general Fund resources for better-off PRGT-eligible countries, these reforms were broadly resource neutral and left the PRGT self-sustaining framework intact.
Demand for PRGT resources up strongly. In 2015, demand reached SDR 1.5 billion, largely in response to shocks to commodity prices and adverse global financial market conditions. Demand is expected to remain elevated in 2016, as the global environment continues to be challenging.
March 31, 2016
List of IMF Member Countries with Delays in Completion of Article IV Consultations or Mandatory Financial Stability Assessments over 18 Months
Description: In line with a framework introduced in 2012 for addressing excessive delays in the completion of Article IV consultations, the following table lists the IMF members for which the Article IV consultation has been delayed by more than 18 months at March 15, 2016. The delay is counted past the stipulated date for the consultation plus any applicable grace period. There are no countries for which the mandatory financial stability assessments are delayed by more than 18 months at March 15, 2016.
March 25, 2016
FY2017-FY2019 Medium-Term Budget
Description: The net administrative budget for FY2017 has been set at US$1,072.5 million. After four years of zero real growth, the FY 2017 budget includes an increase of ½ percent in constant dollar terms to cover the institution’s rising IT and physical security costs, as well as a small adjustment for increases in the salary structure and in the costs of non-personnel expenses. The budget envelope also entails reallocation measures of 1.5 percent of resources and institution-wide savings to meet new high priority tasks and commitments to the membership. The FY2017 capital budget, set at US$60.5 million, provides financing for new capital projects for building facilities and IT.
March 25, 2016
The Managing Director's Global Policy Agenda: Decisive Action, Durable Growth
Description:
Full text also available in: Arabic, Chinese, French, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish.
The global economy is expanding moderately but the outlook has weakened further since October, and risks have increased. The global economy has been impaired from growth that has been too slow for too long, and at this rate a sustained recovery—with the expected higher living standards, lower unemployment and declining debt levels—may not be delivered. However, some recent improvement in data releases, somewhat firmer oil prices, reduced pressures on outflows from China, and actions by major central banks have all contributed to improving sentiment.
Building on these recent positive developments, the global economy can get back on a stronger and safer track, but the current policy response will need to go further. Countries must reinforce their commitment to durable global growth and employ a more potent policy mix. A three-pronged approach with monetary, fiscal, and structural actions can work as a virtuous trinity, lifting actual and potential growth, averting recession risks, and enhancing financial stability. The IMF will support this commitment by helping countries identify space, craft appropriate policies, and build capacity to deliver on these policies; providing a strong financial backstop for policy implementation; and assisting members with new challenges.
March 17, 2016
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative and Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative—Statistical Update
Description:
The HIPC Initiative and MDRI are nearly complete, with 36 countries having already reached the completion point under the HIPC Initiative. Chad, in April 2015, is the latest country to reach the completion point. Debt relief under the Initiative has alleviated debt burdens substantially in recipient countries and has enabled them to increase their poverty-reducing expenditure by over one and a half percentage points of GDP between 2001 and 2014.
Creditor participation in the HIPC Initiative has been strong amongst the multilateral and Paris Club creditors; however participation from other creditor groups still needs to be strengthened. The total cost of debt relief to creditors under the HIPC Initiative is currently estimated to be US$74.8 billion, while the costs to the four multilateral creditors providing relief under the MDRI is estimated at US$41.6 billion in end-2014 present value terms.
March 10, 2016
Adequacy of the Global Financial Safety Net
Description: The Global Financial Safety Net (GFSN) is comprised mainly of countries' own reserves and external public sources of insurance and financing. The main external official arrangements are central bank bilateral swap arrangements (BSAs), regional financial arrangements (RFAs), and the Fund. The safety net seeks to provide countries with insurance against crises, financing when shocks hit, and incentives for sound macroeconomic policies.
March 4, 2016
Financial Integration in Latin America
Description: Many Latin American economies have experienced significant reductions in growth recently, as a result of the end of the commodity super-cycle and the rebalancing of China’s growth, and a number of global banks have been leaving the region. AlthoughLatin American countries were generally less affected by the global financial crisis (GFC) than other regions, the region continues also to suffer from the protracted sluggish growth in advanced economies. In addition, there has since 2008 been a withdrawal of global banks from the region, thus potentially worsening access to credit or reducing competition in the financial sector. More broadly, the GFC demonstrated that extreme economic volatility can originate from outside the region, rather than internally, as was the experience of the 1980s and 1990s...
February 23, 2016
2016 Handbook of IMF Facilities for Low-Income Countries
Description: This Handbook provides guidance to staff on the financial and non-financial facilities for low-income countries (LICs), defined here as all countries eligible to obtain concessional financing from the Fund. It updates the previous version of the Handbook that was published in February 2015 (IMF, 2015) by incorporating modifications resulting from Board papers and related decisions since that time, including the reform of the Fund policy on Poverty Reduction Strategy in Fund engagement with low-income countries, Financing for Development—Enhancing the Financial Safety net for Developing Countries, Proposal for Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust, the Review of Eligibility to Use the Fund’s Facilities for Concessional Financing, and the 14th General Review of Quotas.1 Designed as a comprehensive reference tool for program work on LICs, the Handbook also refers, in summary form, to a range of relevant policies that apply more generally to IMF members. As with all guidance notes, the relevant IMF Executive Board decisions, including the terms of the various LIC Trust Instruments that have been adopted by the Board, remain the sole legal authority on the matters covered in the Handbook.