This paper, introduces the analytical framework for a Vulnerability Exercise for Low-Income Countries (VE-LIC). The envisaged exercise will strive to identify vulnerabilities and emerging risks that arise from changes in the external environment in a consistent manner across countries and across...

Based on the Executive Board's guidance during the first stage of the Review of Low Income Countries (LIC) Facilities, this paper suggests a number of refinements to the facilities and instruments that are consistent with the self-sustainability of the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT)....

This Handbook, an updated version of a similarly titled document issued in May 2012 (IMF, 2012c), provides guidance to staff on the financial facilities for low-income countries (LICs) that became effective in January 2010 (ECF, SCF, and RCF), and the PSI, including modifications to the guidance...

This note provides an overview of the literature on the challenges posed by shallow financial systems for macroeconomic policy implementation. Countries with shallow markets are more likely to choose fixed exchange rates, less likely to use indirect measures as instruments of monetary policy,...

This supplement presents ten case studies, which highlight the roles of targeted policies to facilitate sustainable financial deepening in a variety of country circumstances, reflecting historical experiences that parallel a range of markets in LICs. The case studies were selected to broadly...

This paper proposes reforms to the discount rates used by the Bank and the Fund to (a) calculate the present value (PV) of the external debt of low-income countries (LICs) in debt sustainability analyses (DSAs) and (b) to calculate the grant element of individual loans. Consistent with the...

As a follow-up to theaExecutive Board's May 2013 discussion, this paper considers a possible direction for reform of the Fund's lending framework in the context of sovereign debt vulnerabilities. The primary focus of this paper relates to the Fund's exceptional access framework, since it is in...

Diversification and structural transformation play important roles in influencing the macroeconomic performance of low-income countries (LICs). Increases in income per capita at early stages of development are typically accompanied by a transformation in a country's production and export...

In 2009, the Boards of the IMF and World Bank jointly endorsed a capacity building program to help developing countries strengthen their public debt management frameworks. A key aspect of the program was to help developing countries implement the framework developed by staffs to formulate an...

New commitments under programs supported by the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) amounted to SDR 0.6 billion during the first nine months of 2014, and disbursements on existing arrangements amounted to about SDR 0.3 billion through end-August. While this level of demand is low by...