Policy Papers
2012
November 8, 2012
Quota Formula Review - Further Considerations
Description: The Executive Board has held three formal meetings on the quota formula review, and discussions have also taken place in other fora including the IMFC Deputies work stream and the G-20 IFA Working Group. Considerable progress has been made in terms of identifying areas of common ground as well as those areas where views differ. At their most recent meeting in late September, Directors reaffirmed their commitment to completing the review by January 2013, and stressed that achieving this goal will require constructive engagement and a spirit of flexibility and compromise from all sides. At its subsequent meeting in Tokyo, the IMFC called on the membership to develop the consensus needed through further engagement of the Executive Board, with input from the IMFC Deputies, to complete the review by January 2013.
November 8, 2012
Quota Formula Review - Further Considerations - Statistical Appendix
Description: This paper is a Statistical Appendix to complement the Quota Formula Review—Further Considerations.
November 8, 2012
Statement by the Managing Director on the Work Program of the Executive Board
Description: The Managing Director’s Global Policy Agenda (GPA) presented to the IMFC during the Annual Meetings charted a set of actions needed across the membership to secure the recovery and to lay the foundation for a more robust global financial architecture. The GPA also detailed the Fund’s role in assisting the membership with these formidable tasks, building on the recent reforms to buttress the Fund’s surveillance framework. This work program translates the broad policy directions laid out in the GPA into a specific agenda for the Fund for the next six months and, in order to foster more strategic planning and prioritization, our current plans regarding key policy items over the next year.
November 5, 2012
One Year After the 2011 Triennial Surveillance Review - Progress Report
Description: This progress report provides a short update on the first year of implementation of the 2011 Triennial Surveillance Review (TSR) in line with the Managing Director’s Statement on Strengthening Surveillance of October 2011. The report does not provide a comprehensive review of surveillance—which will be done in the 2014 TSR. Instead, its purpose is to establish, at an early stage, whether the new operational priorities are being implemented, set out key areas of progress, and discuss the challenges raised in their implementation. The report also identifies areas where further efforts may need to be directed—particularly following the change to the legal framework—to ensure even implementation and delivery of effective surveillance. The report recognizes that, while some measures have been implemented over the past year, others will take more time to come to fruition.
October 23, 2012
Implementation Plan in Response to Board-Endorsed Recommendations for the IEO Evaluation of Research at the IMF--Relevance and Utilization
Description: This paper presents a forward-looking implementation plan for the above-cited Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) report. During the Board discussion, Executive Directors noted that the report “provides a balanced assessment of the quality, relevance, management, and utilization of IMF research” and “were particularly encouraged by the overall finding that a large number of IMF analytical papers are of high quality, widely read, and appreciated by country authorities and the research community.” At the same time, they noted the finding that “IMF research is of uneven quality and perceived to be message driven.” Directors therefore saw scope for “enhancing the relevance and technical quality of the analytical work, openness to alternative points of view, and coordination of research activities across the institution.”
October 19, 2012
Niger - Assessment Letter for the African Development Bank
Description: The new three-year ECF arrangement was approved by the Board on March 16, 2012. The economic outlook for 2012 and 2013 is broadly positive, thanks to the coming onstream of oil production and continuing investment in the natural resource sector. Downside risks to the outlook include the fragile regional security situation and climatic shocks. Program implementation in 2012 has been mixed. All end-June quantitative performance criteria were met other than the continuous performance criterion on non-concessional borrowing, but there were delays in the execution of the structural reform agenda.
October 16, 2012
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) - Economic Prospects and Policy Challenges for the GCC Countries
Description: The already sluggish global recovery has suffered new setbacks and uncertainty weighs heavily on prospects. The euro area crisis intensified in the first half of 2012 and growth has slowed across the globe, reflecting financial market tensions, extensive fiscal tightening in many countries, and high uncertainty about medium-term prospects. Activity is forecast to remain tepid and bumpy, with a further escalation of the euro-area crisis or a failure to avoid the “fiscal cliff” in the United States entailing significant downside risk.
October 13, 2012
Managing Director’s Global Policy Agenda
Description:
The global recovery has suffered new setbacks with uncertainty weighing heavily on confidence and prospects. Output is contracting in the euro area and growth has decelerated in many other advanced economies and major emerging markets.
Markets have been buoyed by central bank action in the advanced economies which provides an opportunity to lay the basis for a recovery. Policymakers must detail, and aggressively implement, measures to address the underlying weaknesses—fiscal, financial, and structural. In the Euro area the ESM and the OMT need to be deployed, banking union advanced, and national authorities should implement strong policies to credibly ensure fiscal consolidation over the medium-term and to raise growth and employment. In the U.S., the immediate priority is to resolve the fiscal cliff and raise the debt ceiling, while developing an appropriately ambitious medium-term fiscal consolidation plan. In the Euro area, the Fund will support members’ efforts by assisting in the development and monitoring of well-designed adjustment programs and providing analysis and advice on options for banking and fiscal union. For other advanced economies, the Fund will assess the implications of the underlying policy framework.
October 12, 2012
Notification of Effectiveness of Partial Distribution of the General Reserve Attributed to Windfall Gold Sale Profits
Description: On February 24, 2012, the Executive Board approved a partial distribution of the general reserve equivalent to SDR 700 million attributed to part of the gold sales windfall profits to all members in proportion to their quotas.
October 11, 2012
Provisional Agenda for the Twenty-Sixth Meeting of the International Monetary and Financial Committee
Description:
Provisional Agenda
Friday, October 12, 2012
Introductory Session
Global Economic and Financial Prospects and Policies
(11:30 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.)
Tokyo International Forum, Hall B5
Restricted Session
Early Warning Exercise
(2:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.)
Imperial Hotel, Hikari Room
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Restricted Breakfast
Dialogue on Policy Challenges
(8:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.)
Imperial Hotel, Hikari Room
Plenary Session
1. Opening Remarks by the Chair
(10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.)
Imperial Hotel, Fuji Room
2. Global Policy Agenda
- Securing the recovery and anchoring the future. Issues facing the advanced economies, emerging markets, low-income countries, Arab countries in transition, and the role of the Fund
- Strengthening IMF Governance. 2010 Quota and Governance reforms; Quota Formula Review
3. Approval of Press Communiqué
Press Conference
(1:30 p.m.)
Tokyo International Forum, Hall D7
**********
An Informal Gathering of World Economic Leaders, bringing together IMFC members and selected private sector, civil society and academic leaders, will be held on Friday, October 12 from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in the Hikari Room at the Imperial Hotel.