Press Release No. 15/356

Press Release: IMF Executive Board Reviews the Fund's Income Position for Financial Years 2015-16

July 24, 2015

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) completed its annual review of the Fund’s income position for the financial years ending April 30, 2015 (FY 2015) and FY 2016 on April 27, 2015.

FY 2015 Income Position

Total FY 2015 net income, including income from surcharges applied to higher access borrowing from the IMF, is estimated at SDR 1.5 billion (US$ 2.2 billion). Net income of SDR 1.3 billion, which excludes the retained earnings of the gold endowment, will be added to the IMF’s precautionary balances which are projected to reach SDR 14.0 billion (US$19.8 billion) at end-FY 2015. The net income position for FY 2015 was lower than projected a year earlier. This reflected both early repayments by Ireland and Portugal and an adjustment required under the International Accounting Standard 19 stemming mainly from a further fall in the discount rate used in the valuation of pension obligations.

FY 2016 Income Position

Net income of SDR 0.85 billion (US$1.3 billion) is projected for FY 2016. This projection is sensitive to the timing and amounts of disbursements under approved arrangements included in the projections, possible new arrangements, and the performance of the Fund’s investment portfolio. The projected net income will allow the IMF to continue to add to its precautionary balances.

The IMF charges member countries a basic rate of charge on the use of IMF credit, which is determined as the SDR interest rate plus a margin expressed in basis points. In April 2014 the Executive Board set the margin for this rate of charge at 100 basis points for financial years FY 2015 and FY 2016. In the context of this year’s comprehensive review of the Fund’s income position at the midpoint of this two year period, the Executive Board concluded that the margin should remain unchanged.