Policy Papers

October 3, 2023

Making Public Debt Public—Ongoing Initiatives and Reform Options—Background Paper

Description: This Background Paper provides technical information to accompany the main paper “Making Public Debt Public: Ongoing Initiatives and Reform Options”. It provides further empirical evidence of benefits of public debt transparency and elaborates on two elements that can be used to enhance it: (i) sound practices in public debt management and (ii) available international data standards and publicly available debt databases.

Notes: Making Public Debt Public—Ongoing Initiatives and Reform Options

September 29, 2023

Annual Update on SDR Trading Operations

Description: This paper provides an update on the status of the SDR trading market and operations. For more than three decades, SDRs have exclusively been exchanged for freely usable currencies in transactions by agreement, primarily through the Voluntary Trading Arrangements (VTAs). Since the last annual update, SDR trading has continued to be dominated by SDR sales, although SDR acquisitions have increased significantly. From September 2022 to August 2023, SDR 17.9 billion were sold through the VTA market, of which SDR 8.9 billion were exchanged by 29 participants into currencies and SDR 8.0 billion were sold by the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) and the Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST) for liquidity management and to facilitate the investment of SDR contributions. On the purchase side, the volume and number of transactions increased from the previous year as more participants needed to replenish their SDR holdings to cover charges to the IMF, reflecting the rising SDR interest rate. The VTAs continue to have ample capacities to meet the demand for exchange of SDRs into currencies.

September 27, 2023

Key Trends in Implementing The Fund’s Transparency Policy

Description: At the time of the 2005 Review of the Fund’s Transparency Policy, the Executive Board requested regular updates on trends in implementing the transparency policy. This report provides an overview of recent developments, reflecting information on documents considered by the Board in 2021 and updating the previous annual report on Key Trends. Deeper analysis of these trends is undertaken in the context of periodic reviews of the Fund’s Transparency Policy.

August 29, 2023

2021 Special Drawing Rights Allocation—Ex-Post Assessment Report

Description: This report follows up on the impact of the historic $650 billion 2021 SDR allocation on the global economy, documenting IMF members' use of the allocation and assessing its economic effects. The report finds that the allocation was beneficial for the global economy, helping meet the long-term global need for reserves and supporting market confidence. Members used the allocation mostly to increase international reserve buffers, with some emerging market and developing countries also using it to meet fiscal and external financing needs. While SDR interest costs have increased, members’ capacity to service SDR obligations remains generally adequate. Members’ use of the allocation was mostly in line with Fund advice, and the transparency and accountability of SDR holdings and use has been broadly appropriate, although some gaps remain. Voluntary SDR channeling from economically stronger to more vulnerable members has helped amplify the benefits of the allocation.

Notes: 2021 Special Drawing Rights Allocation—Ex-Post Assessment Report—Background Paper

July 31, 2023

Making Public Debt Public—Ongoing Initiatives and Reform Options

Description: The paper develops and assesses options to improve public debt transparency. It first makes the case, both conceptually and empirically, for greater public debt transparency. To guide the development and assessment of options, it examines the factors hindering transparency, including capacity and governance gaps, and borrower and creditor incentives. The paper then provides a high-level overview of existing initiatives to improve public debt transparency, identifying priorities for progress and policy gaps. Next, it presents and analyzes the merits of a range of options to improve public debt transparency, drawn from reform proposals gaining prominence in policymaking circles while reflecting Fund policy priorities. The IMF could contribute to these reforms with actions within its mandate but would need significant additional resources.

Notes: Making Public Debt Public—Ongoing Initiatives and Reform Options—Background Paper

July 21, 2023

Statement by the Managing Director on the FY 2024 Work Program of the Executive Board Executive Board Meeting May 30, 2023

Description: This Executive Board Work Program (BWP) for FY 2024 (May 2023 to April 2024) focuses on supporting the membership in responding to these challenges through prompt and tailored policy advice, financial assistance—buttressed by efforts to support debt restructuring processes—and capacity development. It ensures that the Board can continue to closely monitor economic and financial developments and discuss macro policy responses. The BWP also provides opportunities to deliberate on key Fund policies and operations. Given continued high uncertainty, the BWP will need to remain flexible and adaptable to prioritize the membership’s changing needs, while recognizing the Fund’s constrained budget environment.

July 7, 2023

Extension of the Periods for Consent to and Payment of Quota Increases

Description: On June 15, 2023, the IMF’s Executive Board approved an additional extension, for one year, of the period for members to consent to an increase in their quotas under the Fourteenth General Review of Quotas (“Fourteenth Review”) through June 30, 2024. The previous deadline was due to expire on June 30, 2023. However, the Board of Governors Resolution No. 66-2 provides that the Executive Board may extend the period for consent as it may determine. The Executive Board also approved an additional extension by one year of the period for payment of quota increases under the Fourteenth Review, and an extension for the payment of the quota increases under the 2008 Reform, through June 30, 2024.

June 30, 2023

Supplement to The Guidance Note for The Use of Third-Party Indicators in Fund Reports

Description: This supplement to the Guidance Note for the Use of Third-Party Indicators in Fund Reports (TPI GN) provides guidance to staff on indicators not to be used in Fund reports, and revises the frequency of updates to the Third-Party Indicators Digest. All other provisions of the TPI GN remain in effect.

June 30, 2023

Review of Experience with The Food Shock Window Under The Rapid Financing Instrument and The Rapid Credit Facility

Description: The Food Shock Window (FSW) under the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) and the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) was approved in September 2022 for 12 months, as a complement to the tools used by the Fund to support the broader international effort to address the global food shock. The Fund has been working closely with partners to provide a coordinated international response to the global food shock, and has contributed through policy advice, technical assistance and lending. Where needed and possible, financial support to countries affected by the global food shock has been delivered by the IMF through multi-year Fund-supported programs The FSW complemented this support in situations where these programs were not feasible or not necessary. As the global food shock and associated balance of payment pressures are expected to continue throughout 2023, the IMF extended the FSW until end-March 2024 to allow the FSW to continue serving as a contingency tool. This extension will also provide sufficient time to observe if the FSW can lapse without limiting the capacity of the Fund to support its members. To ensure adequate borrowing space under the emergency financing limits for those countries that have received support through the FSW, the IMF also extended the additional 25 percent of quota added to the Cumulative Access Limit until end-2026 for countries that have accessed the Food Shock Window through the RFI and until the completion of the 2024/25 PRGT review for those that accessed the Food Shock Window through the RCF.

June 30, 2023

Review of The Cumulative Access Limits Under The Rapid Financing Instrument and The Rapid Credit Facility

Description: The IMF extended the temporarily higher Cumulative Access Limits under the Fund’s Emergency Financing instruments, the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) under the General Resources Account, and the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust. This extension ensures that the Fund can continue to support member countries that accessed Fund’s emergency financing during COVID-19 pandemic in case of renewed emergency situations. The temporarily higher cumulative access limits under the RFI will be maintained until end-June 2024 when most RFI recipients will have repaid a significant part of their past emergency financing. The temporarily higher cumulative access limits under the RCF will be maintained until the completion of the 2024/25 comprehensive review of the Fund’s concessional facilities and financing, given the longer repayment schedule for RCF financing.