Press Release No. 17/154

IMF and Japan Amend Agreement to Increase Lending to Low-Income Countries by an Additional SDR 1.8 Billion

May 9, 2017

• Bank of Japan agrees to provide additional US$2.5 billion to IMF’s Trust benefitting low income member countries, brings total contribution to US$5.2 billion

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), as Trustee of the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT), has entered into an amendment of its 2010 note purchase agreement with the Government of Japan (see Press Release No.10/340 ), through which Japan will provide an additional amount of up to SDR 1.8 billion (about US$2.5 billion) in new loan resources. Accordingly, the total loan amount under the borrowing agreement with the Government of Japan was amended to provide up to SDR 3.6 billion for the PRGT benefitting the IMF’s low‑income member countries.

This amendment, made effective on April 20, 2017, constitutes Japan’s fourth loan contribution to the PRGT and puts Japan among the first ten countries to provide new PRGT loan resources under the current fund‑raising campaign. Following the Executive Board’s endorsement, the Managing Director launched this campaign in November 2015 with a target of SDR 11 billion in new bilateral loan resources (see Update on the Financing of the Fund's Concessional Assistance and Debt Relief to Low-Income Member Countries ).

Japan’s continued support of the PRGT in loan resources for the IMF’s low-income member countries is a critical element towards sustaining the Fund’s concessional lending operations over the medium-term.

Useful links :

Factsheet: Financing the IMF's Concessional Lending to Low-Income Countries

Factsheet: Where the Fund gets its Money