Policy Papers
2023
December 22, 2023
IMF and World Bank Approach to Cross-Border Payments Technical Assistance
Description: The G20 had made enhancing cross-border payments a priority. Faster, cheaper, more transparent and more inclusive cross-border payment services have the potential to be transformative for citizens and economies across the world. The Roadmap for Enhancing Cross-Border Payments, launched in 2020, is the first attempt by the international community to address the challenges faced by cross-border payments in a holistic way. A key foundational element in the Roadmap was the publication by the FSB of 11 quantitative targets to define the Roadmap’s aims and create accountability. Technical Assistance (TA) plays a critical role in helping achieve the Roadmap targets. TA relates closely to, and builds on, the IMF’s and World Bank’s respective missions. This paper outlines a multi-year strategy to provide TA in order to meet the cross-border payments targets. The paper (1) details the important role TA plays in achieving the Roadmap targets; (2) summarizes stocktakes conducted by the IMF and World Bank of recent and ongoing TA supporting cross-border payments; and (3) explains the IMF’s and World Bank’s approaches to cross-border payments TA. The IMF and World Bank commit to collaborating, coordinating, and complementing each other on cross-border payments TA wherever possible and appropriate at country/project level.
December 21, 2023
Update on Implementation Plan to Address the Recommendations of the 2022 Institutional Safeguards Review
Description: In response to the recommendations from the 2022 Institutional Safeguards Review (ISR), a comprehensive Implementation Plan (IP) was developed drawing on the work undertaken by a Board Steering Group, Management, and staff. The IP, which was discussed and endorsed by the Board in December 2022, outlined a set of actions and policy changes that reflected the strong shared commitment of the Board and Management to a durable change in the institution and the highest standards of institutional governance. Substantial progress has been made in advancing the IP actions that were due to be completed in CY2023, with 85 percent of the actions having been completed or remaining on track for completion.
December 21, 2023
Integrated Policy Framework—Principles for the Use of Foreign Exchange Intervention
Description: This note guides policy advice on the use of foreign exchange intervention (FXI) as part of the Integrated Policy Framework (IPF) in Fund surveillance. The note provides general principles for the advice in countries with flexible exchange rates and sets out three use cases for FXI that are tied to specific frictions. It explores the use of FXI as part of an overall policy response, allowing the advice to differ with shocks, frictions, and country-specific circumstances.
December 20, 2023
Guidance Note for the Fund's Policy on Multiple Currency Practices
Description: This note provides operational guidance to staff on the implementation of the new Fund’s policy on multiple currency practices (MCPs), effective February 1, 2024. The MCP policy is a key element of the Fund’s jurisdiction on exchange rates. The Fund’s Articles of Agreement prohibit member countries from engaging or permitting their fiscal agencies (as defined in the Articles) to engage in MCPs unless authorized under the Articles or approved by the Fund. The comprehensive review of the policy in 2022 aimed to reflect developments in FX policy and FX markets since the last policy review in the 1980s and to align it with other relevant Fund’s policies. Key changes to the policy include the following: (i) an MCP will arise due to an official action that segments foreign exchange (FX) markets or increases or subsidizes the cost of certain FX transactions (e.g., exchange taxes) and the resulting exchange rate spreads exceed the permissible margins, (ii) MCPs will be identified on the basis of a new country-specific market-based rule, and (iii) the new policy ensures better alignment of the MCP policy with other relevant IMF’s policies. The note provides guidance to staff on all stages of the process: from identification of an MCP to its approval or removal and clarifies the treatment of MCPs in surveillance and Fund-supported programs. It also guides staff’s engagement with the authorities on MCP issues and their coverage in country documents.
December 18, 2023
Sixteenth General Review of Quotas—Report to the Board of Governors and Proposed Resolution, and Proposed Decision to Extend the Deadline for a Review of the Borrowing Guidelines
Description: A strong, quota-based, and adequately resourced IMF at the center of the Global Financial Safety Net is essential to safeguard global financial stability in an uncertain and shock-prone world. Building on three years of Committee of the Whole meetings, Executive Directors’ feedback, and recent guidance from the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC), this paper sets out for consideration of the Executive Board a proposal for the conclusion of the Sixteenth General Review of Quotas (16th Review) with a 50 percent quota increase allocated to members in proportion to their quotas (“equiproportional increase”). The paper includes for the Executive Board’s approval a Report by the Executive Board to the Board of Governors (BoG) on such an increase, including a draft BoG Resolution. The proposed increase in quotas, once in effect, would replace Bilateral Borrowing Agreements and be linked to a rollback in credit arrangements under the New Arrangements to Borrow, in order to maintain the Fund’s lending capacity. The proposed quota increase would strengthen the quota-based nature of the Fund by reducing its reliance on borrowing, thus ensuring the primary role of quotas in Fund resources. Transitional arrangements for borrowed resources may be needed to maintain the Fund’s lending capacity beyond 2024 until the quota increase becomes effective. Given significant differences in views among members about the quota formula and how to implement a realignment of quota shares, the proposed equiproportional distribution of the quota increase would leave quota shares of members unchanged at this time. However, the membership has signaled the urgency and importance of quota share realignment to better reflect members’ relative positions in the world economy, while protecting the quota shares of the poorest members. Thus, the proposed BoG Resolution includes guidance, building on the recent IMFC discussions, namely to work to develop, by June 2025, possible approaches as a guide for further quota realignment, including through a new quota formula. This work would begin after conclusion of the 16th Review.
December 15, 2023
Interim Review of Access Limits Under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust and Initial Considerations for Access Limits under the General Resource Account
Description: The interim review on PRGT access limits follows the call from the Executive Board in March 2023 and confirmed by the IMFC in October 2023. Low-income countries (LICs) face high economic uncertainty and pressures, while grappling with limited policy space and a funding squeeze. In March 2023, access limits under the General Resources Account (GRA) were temporarily increased for 12 months to give space for countries to face such economic pressures. The IMF Executive Board emphasized the importance of the alignment of the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) access limits with those of the GRA that was achieved in 2021. The Board also agreed that, once substantial progress with PRGT fundraising toward the SDR 2.3 billion first-stage target for subsidy resources agreed in 2021 has been made—with total pledges of SDR 2 billion or more—access limits under the PRGT would be reviewed at an ad hoc interim review. This target has now been reached, paving the way for the review, also called for by the IMFC during the Annual Meetings in October 2023, in a context where the LICs’ economic challenges have further increased, including due to the risk of additional negative spillovers on the global economy stemming from the current geopolitical tensions and conflicts.
December 12, 2023
Gender Diversity in The Executive Board—Interim Report of The Executive Board to The Board of Governors
Description: Greater gender diversity of the IMF’s Executive Board continues to be important to strengthen decision-making at the highest levels of the institution by bringing together different perspectives. Increasing the number of women Executive Directors and Alternate Executive Directors sends important signals about the high value the membership and the IMF place on improving diversity and to generate better outcomes. Despite the IMFC’s calls for increased gender diversity of the Executive Board, the number of women holding the position of Executive Director and Alternate Executive Director on the Executive Board has not substantially improved over time.1 It is a great concern that the proportion of women on the Executive Board has declined in recent years, as shown in the attached updated Fact Sheet.
December 11, 2023
Guidance Note on The Liberalization and Management of Capital Flows
Description: This note provides operational guidance to staff on the use of the Fund’s institutional view (IV) on the liberalization and management of capital flows. The IV establishes a framework for consistent policy advice and assessments of members’ capital flow policies when relevant for surveillance. The IV does not alter the rights and obligations of members under the Fund’s Articles of Agreement or other international agreements. The IV has no mandatory implications for the Fund’s financing role. The IV rests on the premise that capital flows are desirable as they can bring substantial benefits for countries, but they may also generate risks. Capital flow management measures (CFMs) or measures that are both CFMs and macroprudential measures (MPMs), i.e., CFM/MPMs, can be useful in certain circumstances but should not substitute for warranted macroeconomic adjustment. The IV aims to help countries reap the benefits of capital flows, while managing the associated risks in a way that preserves macroeconomic and financial stability and does not generate significant negative outward spillovers. Staff should discuss capital flows and related policies in surveillance when these are macro-critical or when spillovers from those policies significantly influence the effective operation of the international monetary system. This note combines, elaborates, and clarifies all previous IV guidance, replacing the 2013 guidance note and the 2015 note on further operational considerations. It also provides guidance on the new elements introduced in the 2022 review of the IV.
December 8, 2023
Thirteenth Periodic Monitoring Report on The Status of Management Implementation Plans in Response to Board-Endorsed IEO Recommendations
Description: Overall, progress has been made since the Twelfth PMR on actions in response to eight IEO evaluations, with the pace of implementation being faster on actions October 31, 2023 THIRTEENTH PERIODIC MONITORING REPORT 2 INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND contained in the MIP in Response to the Executive Board-Endorsed Categorization of Open Actions in Management Implementation Plans. It is also worth mentioning that many open actions depend on the implementation of some important reviews/key steps that are expected to be completed in or soon after December 2023, such as the Capacity Development (CD) Strategy Review, the issuance of a new CD Guidance Note, an update of the Small Developing States Staff Guidance Note (SDS-SGN), the Operational Guidance Note (OGN) on Program Design and Conditionality, and a Board paper on Bank-Fund collaboration.
December 5, 2023
2023 Review of The Fund’s Anti-Money Laundering and Combating The Financing of Terrorism Strategy
Description: This paper reviews the Fund’s efforts to safeguard financial integrity and proposes the way forward for the Fund’s Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Strategy. For over 20 years, the IMF has recognized that effective AML/CFT frameworks, and financial integrity more broadly, are key to the soundness and stability of the financial sector and to prevent the negative macroeconomic implications of financial crimes on the broader economy of members, progressively integrating this work across all its core functions and in a broad set of Fund policies. The paper takes stock of the implementation of the IMF's AML/CFT strategy since 2018. It also proposes deepening the integration of financial integrity issues and an enhanced focus on the macroeconomic impact of AML/CFT issues for the way forward.