Review of the Policy on Staff-Monitored Program With Executive Board Involvement

Policy Papers, February 20, 2024

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Canonical URL: Review of the Policy on Staff-Monitored Program With Executive Board Involvement

The paper reviews the policy on Staff-Monitored Program with Executive Board Involvement (PMB).
The PMB "plays an important niche role in the Fund’s toolkit in supporting members in circumscribed circumstances, while not supplanting the Staff-Monitored Programs (SMPs) as the primary tool for building or rebuilding a track record towards a Fund arrangement that supports a UCT-quality program."
Experience with the PMB is limited to "three country cases over the past sixteen months."
"Further experience would be needed to draw more definitive conclusions in terms of the usefulness of the PMB vis-à-vis alternative instruments and a more parsimonious Fund toolkit."
Decision: "In this context, the PMB is kept in the toolkit, and it will be expected to be reviewed in three years."

Role: PMB serves a niche purpose distinct from SMPs.
Evidence base: Empirical experience is scarce — "three country cases over the past sixteen months."
Need for more data: The limited sample constrains definitive conclusions about PMB usefulness relative to alternatives and a streamlined toolkit.

Retention: The PMB is retained in the IMF toolkit.
Future review: The PMB policy "will be expected to be reviewed in three years."
Implicit implication: Additional country experience and monitoring will inform the next review.