Factsheet
IMF Standby Credit Facility
April 10, 2012
The Standby Credit Facility (SCF) provides financial assistance to low-income countries (LICs) with short-term balance of payments needs. The SCF was created under the newly established Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) as part of a broader reform to make the Fund’s financial support more flexible and better tailored to the diverse needs of LICs, including in times of shocks or crisis. The SCF provides high access, carries a lower interest rate, can be used on a precautionary basis, and places emphasis on the country’s poverty reduction and growth objectives.
Financial assistance tailored to country needs
Purpose. The SCF supports LICs that have reached broadly sustainable macroeconomic positions, but may experience episodic, short-term financing and adjustment needs, including those caused by shocks. The SCF supports countries’ economic programs aimed at restoring a stable and sustainable macroeconomic position consistent with strong and durable growth and poverty reduction. It also provides policy support and can help catalyze foreign aid.
Eligibility. The SCF is available to PRGT-eligible member countries facing an immediate or potential balance of payments need, where the country’s financing and adjustment needs are normally expected to be resolved within two years, thus establishing a sustainable macroeconomic position.
Duration and repeated use. An SCF arrangement can range from 12–24 months. As the SCF is intended to address episodic short-term needs, its use is normally limited to two and a half out of any five years. Subject to these limits, an SCF arrangement can be extended or cancelled, and consecutive arrangements can be approved.
Access. Access to SCF financing is determined on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the country’s balance of payments need and strength of its economic program, and is guided by access norms.1 Total access to concessional financing under the PRGT is limited to 100 percent of quota per year, and 300 percent of quota in total. These limits can be exceeded in exceptional circumstances. Access may be augmented during an arrangement if needed.
Precautionary arrangements. A member country with a potential but not immediate balance of payments need can treat access under the SCF as precautionary, in which case no disbursements will be made. However, countries retain and accumulate the rights to request disbursements under the arrangement if a financing need were to arise at a later stage.
Streamlined and focused conditionality
Under the SCF, member countries agree to implement a set of policies that will help them achieve a stable and sustainable macroeconomic position in the short term. These commitments, including specific conditions, are described in the country’s letter of intent.
The IMF has streamlined program conditionality to focus on policy actions that are critical for achieving the program’s objectives. Use of the SCF does not require a Poverty Reduction Strategy document, but SCF-supported programs should be aligned to the country’s poverty reduction and growth objectives.
Quantitative conditions are used to monitor macroeconomic policy variables such as monetary aggregates, international reserves, fiscal balances, or external borrowing, based on the country’s program objectives. SCF-supported programs aim to safeguard social and other priority spending, including through explicit quantitative targets where possible.
Structural benchmarks help monitor critical reforms to achieve program goals; progress against these benchmarks is assessed in the context of program reviews. These measures vary across programs but could, for example, include measures to improve financial sector operations, build up social safety nets, or strengthen public financial management. Legally binding structural conditions have been abolished.
Program reviews by the IMF’s Executive Board play a critical role in assessing performance under the program and allowing the program to adapt to economic developments. Reviews can be conducted every six months or every quarter.
Concessional lending terms
Financing under the SCF carries a ¼ percent interest rate, but is subject to exceptional relief of all interest payments on outstanding concessional loans due to the IMF through the end of 2012. The SCF has a grace period of 4 years, and a final maturity of 8 years. An availability fee is levied at 0.15 percent per annum on the undrawn portion of the amount available for drawing during each six-month period. The Fund reviews the level of interest rates for all concessional facilities under the PRGT every two years. The last review was completed in December 2011.
1 Access norms provide general guidance and are used flexibly, representing neither ceilings nor entitlements. Norms are set at 120 percent of quota per
18—month arrangement, or 75 percent of quota if the country’s total concessional credit outstanding is 100 percent of quota or above (these norms are prorated for arrangements with duration shorter or longer than 18 months).
