Review Of Temporary Modifications To The Fund’s Access Limits In Response To The Covid-19 Pandemic

Policy Papers, December 22, 2021

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Canonical URL: Review Of Temporary Modifications To The Fund’s Access Limits In Response To The Covid-19 Pandemic

Over the course of the pandemic, the Fund made several modifications to the access limits on the use of Fund’s resources to increase the borrowing space under the hard caps on emergency financing and under the annual limits that trigger exceptional access (EA) safeguards under GRA and PRGT.
The current temporarily-increased access limits expire at end-December 2021.
Absent policy changes, the limits would return to the lower pre-pandemic levels or to the new PRGT annual access limit.
Staff proposes to let all access limits return to pre-pandemic levels (or the new PRGT annual access limit), with the exception of the cumulative access limits for emergency financing instruments, which would be extended at the current level for another 18 months.

Let all access limits return to pre-pandemic levels, except:
- Extend the cumulative access limits for emergency financing instruments at the current (temporarily-increased) level for another 18 months.

Modifications were intended to increase borrowing space under:
- hard caps on emergency financing, and
- annual limits that trigger EA safeguards under GRA and PRGT.
The temporary increases were timed to respond to the economic shock from COVID-19.
The proposal balances a return to standard limits with a targeted, time-bound extension of cumulative emergency financing capacity.