The ESF, established within the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility and Exogenous Shocks Facility (PRGF-ESF) Trust, complements existing Fund instruments for providing timely support, including financing at more appropriate terms, to low-income members that are facing sudden and exogenous...

In March 2009, the Fund established a new Framework Administered Account to administer external financial resources for selected Fund Activities (the 'SFA Instrument'). The financing of activities under the terms of the SFA Instrument is implemented through the establishment and operation of a...

This note provides operational guidance and background information on the use of Fund resources for budgetary financing. It does this in the context of concerns expressed by some Executive Board Directors that, by providing such financing, the Fund might be held accountable for the quality of...

In light of the multilateral effort to ensure the adequacy of the financial resources available to the International Monetary Fund, and with a view to supporting the Fund's ability to provide timely and effective balance of payments assistance to its members, the Central Bank of Malta agrees to...

In light of the multilateral effort to ensure the adequacy of the financial resources available to the International Monetary Fund (the 'Fund'), and with a view to supporting the Fund's ability to provide timely and effective balance of payments assistance to its members, the Bank of Slovenia...

On February 24, 2012, the Executive Board approved a partial distribution of the general reserve equivalent to SDR 700 million attributed to part of the gold sales windfall profits to all members in proportion to their quotas

Reform package. Comprehensive reform of Fund governance-encompassing quotas, ministerial engagement and oversight, the size and composition of the Executive Board, voting rules, management selection, and staff diversity-is essential to enhancing the Fund's long-term legitimacy and effectiveness....

The paper explores the pros and cons of maintaining the current 'freely usable currency' criterion, and clarifies indicators for assessing it. The freely usable concept and its two key elements-currencies should be "widely used" and "widely traded"-are set out in the Articles and serve important...

In recent months, a number of Directors have expressed support in the Executive Board for a further extension of the temporary exceptional interest waiver on concessional lending. An extension would send a signal of the Fund's continued support for Low-Income Countries at a time when the global...

This paper proposes a six-month extension of the period for consent to increase quotas under the Fourteenth General Review of Quotas.1 The current deadline is due to expire on June 30, 2012;2 however, Resolution No. 66-2 provides that the Executive Board may extend the period for consent as it may...