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Western Hemisphere > Argentina

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Cover Policy Papers
Initial Considerations For The Review Of Charges And The Surcharge Policy
International Monetary Fund. Policy Development and Review Dept.
On October 11, 2024, the IMF’s Executive Board concluded the Review of Charges and the Surcharge Policy. The review is part of a broader ongoing effort to ensure that the IMF’s lending policies remain fit for purpose to meet the evolving needs of the membership. Charges and surcharges are important elements of the IMF’s cooperative lending and risk-management framework, where all members contribute and all can benefit from support when needed. Together, they cover lending intermediation expenses, help accumulate reserves to protect against financial risks, and provide incentives for prudent and temporary borrowing. This provides a strong financial foundation that allows the IMF to extend vital balance of payments support on affordable terms to member countries when they need it most.



Against the backdrop of a challenging economic environment and high global interest rates, the Executive Board reached consensus on a comprehensive package of reforms that substantially reduces the cost of borrowing for members while safeguarding the IMF's financial capacity to support countries in need. The approved measures will lower IMF borrowing costs by about US$1.2 billion annually or reduce payments on the margin of the rate of charge as well as surcharges on average by 36 percent. The number of countries subject to surcharges in fiscal year 2026 is expected to fall from 20 to 13.



Key reforms include a reduction in the margin for the rate of charge, an increase in the threshold for level-based surcharges, a reduction in rate for time-based surcharges, an alignment of thresholds for commitment fees with annual and cumulative access limits for GRA lending facilities, and institution of regular reviews of surcharges.



The series of three papers informed the Executive Board’s first and second informal engagements (July and September 2024) and the formal meeting (October 2024) on this review.
Keywords:
General Resources Account; Charges; Margin for the basic rate of charge; Surcharges; Commitment Fees; Precautionary Balances; Income; multilayered framework; fund arrangement; surcharge rate; intermediation cost; fund's liquidity; borrowing cost; Credit; SDR interest rate; Balance of payments need; Credit risk; Global
Cover Policy Papers
Review of the Adequacy of the Fund’s Precautionary Balances
International Monetary Fund. Finance Dept.
On March 20, 2024, the IMF’s Executive Board reviewed the adequacy of the Fund’s precautionary balances. The review took place somewhat ahead of the standard two-year cycle, in view of the imminent attainment of the current indicative medium-term indicative target of SDR 25 billion for the first time. Precautionary balances comprise the Fund’s general and special reserves. They are a key element of the IMF’s multi-layered framework for managing financial risks. Precautionary balances provide a buffer to protect the Fund against potential losses, resulting from credit, income, and other financial risks. The review was based on the assessment framework established in 2010, which uses an indicative range for precautionary balances, linked to a forward-looking measure of total IMF non-concessional credit, to guide decisions on adjusting the medium-term target over time. While financial risks remain high, they are broadly unchanged from the last review, taking into account the further accumulation of reserves and strengthening of some risk mitigants. Against this background, Executive Directors broadly supported staff’s proposal to retain the current medium-term target of SDR 25 billion and increase the minimum floor from SDR 15 billion to SDR 20 billion. The Board also supported maintaining the biennial review cycle, with earlier reviews if warranted by developments that could materially affect the adequacy of precautionary balances.
Keywords:
Non-concessionary; Lending; Risks; Reserves; Credit; Mitigation; Provisioning; management framework; income risk; concentration risk; Fund credit; I. financial risks; demand scenario; lending portfolio; Credit risk; Income; Capital adequacy requirements; Market risk; Global
Cover Policy Papers
Review Of The Adequacy Of The Fund’s Precautionary Balances
International Monetary Fund. Finance Dept.
On December 12, 2022, the IMF’s Executive Board reviewed the adequacy of the Fund’s precautionary balances. The review took place on the standard two-year cycle, after an interim review in December 2021. Precautionary balances comprise the Fund’s general and special reserves. They are a key element of the IMF’s multi-layered framework for managing financial risks. Precautionary balances provide a buffer to protect the Fund against potential losses, resulting from credit, income, and other financial risks. In conducting the review, the Executive Board applied the rules-based framework agreed in 2010. Precautionary balances have risen further since the 2021 interim review and coverage metrics have strengthened. At the same, credit and other financial risks have also increased. The pace of reserve accumulation is expected to remain adequate. Against this background, Executive Directors endorsed staff’s proposal to retain the current medium-term target of SDR 25 billion and the minimum floor of SDR 15 billion. The Board also discussed the role of surcharges, which are primarily a component of the Fund’s risk management framework but also contribute to reserves accumulation.
Keywords:
concentration risk; D. financial risks; risk management framework; Fund credit; transparency policy; fund financial risks; Income; Credit; Credit risk; Credit ratings; Emergency assistance; Global; Caribbean; Western Hemisphere
Cover Global Financial Stability Notes
Multi-Sector Bond Funds in Emerging Markets—Easy Come, Easy Go
Fabio Cortes
and
Luca Sanfilippo
Unconstrained multi-sector bond funds (MSBFs) can be a source of spillovers to emerging markets and potentially exert a sizable impact on cross-border flows. MSBFs have grown their investment in emerging markets in recent years and are highly concentrated—both in their positions and their decision-making. They typically also exhibit opportunistic behavior much more so than other investment funds. Theoretically, their size, multisector mandate, and unconstrained nature allows MSBFs to be a source of financial stability in periods of wide-spread market turmoil while others sell at fire-sale prices. However, this note, building on the analysis of Cortes and Sanfilippo (2020) and incorporating data around the COVID-19 crisis, finds that MSBFs could have contributed to increase market stress in selected emerging markets. When faced with large investor redemptions during the crisis, our sample of MSBFs chose to rebalance their portfolios in a concentrated manner, raising a large proportion of cash in a few specific local currency bond markets. This may have contributed to exacerbating the relative underperformance of these local currency bond markets to broader emerging market indices.
Keywords:
multi-sector bond funds, emerging markets, cross-border flows, COVID-19; unconstrained multi-sector bond funds; emerging market market index; sample of MSBFs; spillovers to emerging markets; portfolio dynamics; Emerging and frontier financial markets; Currencies; Bonds; Income; Currency markets; Global
Cover Policy Papers
Interim Review of The Adequacy of The Fund’s Precautionary Balances
International Monetary Fund. Finance Dept.
Precautionary balances are a key element of the Fund’s multilayered framework to mitigate financial risks. Overall financial risks remain elevated but have not increased significantly since the last review. Staff proposes to leave the medium-term target of SDR 25 billion, and the minimum floor of SDR 15 billion, unchanged at this time. With the projected increase in lending income, the pace of reserve accumulation is expected to remain adequate relative to the medium-term indicative target. The paper also reviews policy factors discussed in recent Board meetings that affect the level and accumulation of reserves.
Keywords:
risk management framework; transparency policy; D. financial risks; income volatility; totaling SDR; Income; Credit; Credit risk; Pension spending; COVID-19; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Measuring the Redistributive Capacity of Tax Policies
Charles Vellutini
and
Juan Carlos Benitez
This paper presents a novel technique to measure and compare the redistributive capacity of observed tax (or transfer) policies. The technique is based on income distribution simulations and controls for differences in pre-tax income distributions. It assumes that the only information on the pre-tax distribution available in each country-year is the Gini coefficient and the mean (GDP per capita). We illustrate the technique with an application to the personal income tax, using a dataset of 108 countries over the 2007-2018 period.
Keywords:
Income distribution; redistribution; progressivity; personal income tax; novel technique; PIT redistribution; TRANSPLANT-AND-COMPARE method; PIT Progressive; market income Gini Coefficients; Income distribution; Income; Personal income tax; Progressive taxation; Income inequality; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Chile: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. Western Hemisphere Dept.
Selected Issues
Keywords:
replacement rate; contribution rate; loan growth; price-earnings ratio; household income; household loan demand; Pension spending; Personal income tax; Income; Foreign exchange intervention; Global; Caribbean
Cover Policy Papers
Review of the Adequacy of the Fund’s Precautionary Balances
International Monetary Fund. Finance Dept.
On October 30, 2020, the IMF’s Executive Board reviewed the adequacy of the Fund’s precautionary balances. Precautionary balances, comprising the Fund’s general and special reserves and the Special Contingent Account (SCA-1), are one element of the IMF’s multi-layered framework for managing financial risks. These balances provide a buffer to protect the Fund against potential losses, resulting from credit, income, and other financial risks. This review of the adequacy of the Fund’s precautionary balances took place on the standard two-year cycle, although it was delayed by a few months to allow for an assessment of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Fund financial risks. In conducting the review, the Executive Board applied the rules-based framework agreed in 2010.
Keywords:
PP; precautionary balance; fund credit; multilayered framework; income risk; lending portfolio
Cover Policy Papers
Review Of The Fund’s Income Position For FY 2019 And FY 2020
International Monetary Fund. Finance Dept.
This paper reviews the Fund’s income position for FY 2019 and FY 2020. The paper updates projections provided in April 2018 and proposes decisions for the current year. The paper includes a comprehensive review of the Fund’s income position as required under Rule I-6(4). No change is proposed in the margin for the rate of charge that was established under this rule in April 2018 for the period FY 2019–20.
Keywords:
PP; fy; position; SDR; income position; FY 2018; income discussion; SDR exchange rate; meeting FY; income of the arrangement; sensitivity analysis; intermediation cost; lower-than-expected surcharge income; income of the Endowment Subaccount; SDR billion; Personal income; SDR interest rate; Reserves accumulation; Arrears; Credit; Global
Cover Policy Papers
A Strategy for IMF Engagement on Social Spending: Background Papers
International Monetary Fund. Fiscal Affairs Dept.
,
International Monetary Fund. Strategy, Policy, &amp
, and
Review Department
This Supplement presents an account of the extensive consultations and the results of various analyses that supported the development of “A Strategy for IMF Engagement on Social Spending.”
Keywords:
PP; spending; staff report; staff; IMF staff calculation; spending issue; social spending; IMF program; Health care spending; Education spending; Personal income; Total expenditures; Global; Sub-Saharan Africa; Asia and Pacific; Europe