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| ARTICLE V, SECTION 3(a), (b), AND (C) | ||||
| Use of Fund Resources | ||||
| Access Policy | ||||
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The Chair’s Summing Up—2024 Comprehensive Review of GRA Access Limits, Executive Board Meeting 24/119, December 17, 2024 Executive Directors welcomed the Comprehensive Review of General Resources Account (GRA) Access Limits. They emphasized that access limits are a key element of the Fund’s risk management framework, providing members with confidence about the possible scale of financing that the Fund is prepared to provide in support of their adjustment efforts, while safeguarding Fund resources and preserving their revolving character. Access in individual financing requests is determined by rigorous assessments informed by standard access criteria, including balance of payments need, the strength of the member’s program, capacity to repay the Fund, and outstanding credit to the Fund. In that context, Directors took note that overall GRA access limits are not ceilings but thresholds for enhanced scrutiny and safeguards. Directors broadly supported the proposal to set the limits on overall GRA annual and cumulative access at 200 and 600 percent of current quotas, respectively, and keep other access limits and quota-base thresholds largely unchanged. The decision preserves the current temporary access limits that are set to expire at end-2024. Most Directors concurred that the proposed overall access limits strike an appropriate balance between offsetting a significant portion of the erosion vis-à-vis macroeconomic aggregates since the last comprehensive review in 2016 and maintaining risk mitigation safeguards. However, while willing to go along with the broad consensus, a number of Directors expressed their preference for higher overall GRA access limits to fully compensate for the erosion. Directors broadly supported the proposal to automatically adjust the overall GRA access limits, the GRA instrument-specific limits, other quota-based thresholds, and the quota-based Resilience and Sustainability Trust limits when the general conditions for the effectiveness of the 16th General Review of Quota (GRQ) increase are met. They concurred that the limits and thresholds will be divided by 1.5, with some limits and thresholds being additionally rounded up for simplicity and ease of communication. This approach broadly aligns with those adopted in the recent Review of Charges and the Surcharge Policy as well as the Review of PRGT Facilities and Financing. However, many Directors raised concerns about the risk of a prolonged delay in meeting the conditions for the effectiveness of the 16th GRQ, which could exacerbate the erosion of access limits in real terms. Should such a delay materialize, a number of Directors recommended taking appropriate corrective action. Directors agreed that the next Comprehensive Review of GRA Access Limits should take place on the standard five-year review cycle, with flexibility to conduct reviews earlier if circumstances warrant. SU/24/191 December 20, 2024 | ||||
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