Press Release No. 11/185

Press Release: IMF Signs SDR 500 Million Borrowing Agreement with the Swiss National Bank to Support Lending to Low-Income Countries

May 17, 2011

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), as Trustee of the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT), has signed a borrowing agreement with the Swiss National Bank, through which Switzerland will provide the PRGT with up to SDR 500 million (about US$794.7 million) in new loan resources for low-income countries.

This agreement, which became effective April 21, 2011, expands the IMF’s capacity to help low-income countries by increasing the loan resources available for the recently reformed concessional lending facilities. Following the Executive Board’s approval of these reforms in July 2009, the Managing Director launched a fund-raising campaign seeking SDR 10.8 billion in new bilateral loan resources and SDR 200–400 million in bilateral contributions to subsidize the cost of concessional lending (see Press Release No. 09/268).