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Africa > Malawi

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Cover Policy Papers
Review of the Policy on Staff-Monitored Program With Executive Board Involvement
International Monetary Fund. Strategy, Policy, & Review Department
,
International Monetary Fund. Finance Dept.
, and
International Monetary Fund. Legal Dept.
This paper reviews the policy on Staff-Monitored Program with Executive Board Involvement (PMB). The PMB plays an important niche role in the Fund’s toolkit in supporting members in circumscribed circumstances, while not supplanting the Staff-Monitored Programs (SMPs) as the primary tool for building or rebuilding a track record towards a Fund arrangement that supports a UCT-quality program. Experience with the PMB is limited to three country cases over the past sixteen months. Further experience would be needed to draw more definitive conclusions in terms of the usefulness of the PMB vis-à-vis alternative instruments and a more parsimonious Fund toolkit. In this context, the PMB is kept in the toolkit, and it will be expected to be reviewed in three years.
Keywords:
Concessional external borrowing; Debt sustainability; External Debt; Monetary policy; Political economy; PMB approval; PMB policy; use criteria; IMF toolkit; transparency policy; Credit; Debt relief; Debt restructuring; Global
Cover Policy Papers
2021 Special Drawing Rights Allocation—Ex-Post Assessment Report
International Monetary Fund. Strategy, Policy, & Review Department
and
International Monetary Fund. Finance Dept.
This report follows up on the impact of the historic $650 billion 2021 SDR allocation on the global economy, documenting IMF members' use of the allocation and assessing its economic effects. The report finds that the allocation was beneficial for the global economy, helping meet the long-term global need for reserves and supporting market confidence. Members used the allocation mostly to increase international reserve buffers, with some emerging market and developing countries also using it to meet fiscal and external financing needs. While SDR interest costs have increased, members’ capacity to service SDR obligations remains generally adequate. Members’ use of the allocation was mostly in line with Fund advice, and the transparency and accountability of SDR holdings and use has been broadly appropriate, although some gaps remain. Voluntary SDR channeling from economically stronger to more vulnerable members has helped amplify the benefits of the allocation.
Keywords:
SDR channeling; service SDR obligation; SDR tracker; SDR converter; SDR department obligation; SDR interest rate; Freely usable currencies; International reserves; Credit default swap; Currencies; Global
Cover Policy Papers
Review of Experience with The Food Shock Window Under The Rapid Financing Instrument and The Rapid Credit Facility
International Monetary Fund. Finance Dept.
,
International Monetary Fund. Legal Dept.
, and
International Monetary Fund. Strategy, Policy, & Review Department
The Food Shock Window (FSW) under the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) and the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) was approved in September 2022 for 12 months, as a complement to the tools used by the Fund to support the broader international effort to address the global food shock. The Fund has been working closely with partners to provide a coordinated international response to the global food shock, and has contributed through policy advice, technical assistance and lending. Where needed and possible, financial support to countries affected by the global food shock has been delivered by the IMF through multi-year Fund-supported programs The FSW complemented this support in situations where these programs were not feasible or not necessary. As the global food shock and associated balance of payment pressures are expected to continue throughout 2023, the IMF extended the FSW until end-March 2024 to allow the FSW to continue serving as a contingency tool. This extension will also provide sufficient time to observe if the FSW can lapse without limiting the capacity of the Fund to support its members. To ensure adequate borrowing space under the emergency financing limits for those countries that have received support through the FSW, the IMF also extended the additional 25 percent of quota added to the Cumulative Access Limit until end-2026 for countries that have accessed the Food Shock Window through the RFI and until the completion of the 2024/25 PRGT review for those that accessed the Food Shock Window through the RCF.
Keywords:
Cumulative Access Limits; Rapid Financing Instrument; Rapid Credit Facility; Food Insecurity; FSW request; FSW financing; UCT-quality program; FSW relative; FSW experience; FSW resource; Food security; Food prices; Emergency assistance; Balance of payments need; Global
Cover Policy Papers
Review of Enhanced Access Limits Under the Rapid Credit Facility and Rapid Financing Instrument
International Monetary Fund
The temporary increase in access limits under IMF emergency financing instruments will expire on October 5, 2020, unless extended. Access limits under emergency instruments (the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) and Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI)) were increased in April 2020 for a period of six months, from 50 to 100 percent of quota annually and from 100 to 150 percent of quota cumulatively. The increased limits are subject to review and can be extended before their expiration. It is proposed to extend the period of higher access limits for emergency financing for a period of six months, through April 6, 2021. Against a background of continued pandemic-related disruption, staff expects there could be significant demand for emergency lending in the October 2020–April 2021 period, including from countries with pending requests and from countries that received emergency support at levels less than the maximum amounts available. A six-month extension would give more time for countries to benefit from higher access limits under emergency financing.
Keywords:
PP; financing; emergency financing instrument; HA procedure; RCF financing request; coronavirus pandemic; misuse of emergency financing; Emergency assistance; Balance of payments need; Credit; Global; COVID-19
Cover Policy Papers
Guidance Note on IMF Engagement on Social Safeguards in Low-Income Countries
International Monetary Fund. Strategy, Policy, &amp
and
Review Department
This note provides operational guidance to staff on how to engage on social safeguard issues with low-income countries in both program and surveillance contexts. The note is not intended as a comprehensive guide, and should be used in conjunction with other operational guidance notes, such as those relating to conditionality and surveillance.
Keywords:
PP; spending; staff; poverty; spending floor; priority spending; country authorities; expenditure code; address weakness; Social assistance spending; Social protection spending; Education spending; Poverty reduction; Energy subsidies; Africa
Cover Policy Papers
Social Safeguards and Program Design in PRGT and PSI-Supported Programs
International Monetary Fund
The Fund provides considerable support to low-income countries (LICs). This includes concessional financing from the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT), which currently carries an interest rate of zero percent. Since 2010, over half of Fund-supported arrangements have involved a PRGT facility. Support for poverty reduction is a core objective of arrangements supported by these facilities. This paper examines how PRGT-supported programs safeguard spending on poor and vulnerable groups within the broader framework of promoting inclusive growth. In some cases, national poverty reduction programs seek to shift expenditures toward social programs in the context of generally higher spending supported by domestic revenue mobilization, grants, or debt financing. In other cases, the goal is to safeguard poor and vulnerable groups from fiscal adjustment and reform measures that could adversely affect them by adopting countervailing policy measures to strengthen social safety nets. In discussing social safeguards, this paper focuses on how and if these objectives are reflected satisfactorily in the design of PRGT and PSI-supported programs. The effectiveness of social spending in improving social outcomes, including by durably reducing poverty, is beyond the scope of the paper.
Keywords:
PP; program; Fund; guidance; LIC program; spending; IMF executive board review; program document; country authorities; fund Policy; Social assistance spending; Poverty reduction strategy; Health care spending; Poverty reduction; Fiscal consolidation; Middle East and Central Asia; Central and Eastern Europe; Asia and Pacific; Western Hemisphere; Sub-Saharan Africa
Cover Policy Papers
The Role of the Fund in Governance Issues - Review of the Guidance Note - Preliminary Considerations - Background Notes
International Monetary Fund
The Background Notes in this Supplement provide essential context and analysis needed to understand the problem of governance and corruption, its impact on the economies of Fund members, and the history and nature of Fund engagement on these issues. They also seek to support the assessment of the Fund’s overall approach to promoting good governance and reducing corruption—including through the lenses of key stakeholders—with a view to identifying strength and closing any remaining gaps.
Keywords:
PP; governance; country; corruption issue; fund; governance indicator; guidance note; treaty obligation; governance issue; Corruption; Anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT); Global financial crisis of 2008-2009; Global competitiveness; Global; Central Asia
Cover Policy Papers
Helping Developing Countries Address Public Debt Management Challenges - An IMF-World Bank Capacity Building Partnership
International Monetary Fund
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 effective medium-term debt management strategy (MTDS). The Boards also supported the continued use of the complementary framework—the Debt Management Performance Assessment (DeMPA)—developed in 2007, to assess the effectiveness of the broader institutional arrangements for public debt management. This paper provides an update on the implementation of the program since its endorsement in 2009.
Keywords:
PP; debt management strategy; work program; undertaking debt management performance assessment; cash management; debt management capacity; debt management Department; debt management operation; debt management reform; quality debt management service; TA mission; debt market; MTDS TA program; IMF-WB MTDS TA; market financing; TA activity; Government debt management; Debt strategy; Domestic debt; Medium-term debt strategy; International capital markets; Global
Cover Policy Papers
Report on the Incidence of Longer-Term Program Engagement
International Monetary Fund
The decision on IMF membership in the Financial Stability Board (as set forth above) was adopted by the IMF’s Executive Board.
Keywords:
EPA update; LTPE definition; EPA requirement; EPA report; Gra arrangement
Cover Policy Papers
Framework Administered Account for Selected Fund Activities—East Africa Regional Technical Assistance Center (AFRITAC East) Subaccount
International Monetary Fund
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 subaccount within the SFA. The subaccount for the East Africa Regional Technical Assistance Center (AFRITAC East) would be the third one under the SFA. This paper requests Executive Board approval to establish the AFRITAC East subaccount under the terms of the SFA Instrument.
Keywords:
PP; Subaccount; AFRITAC east; contributor; terms and conditions of the Subaccount; East Africa region; resources of the Subaccount; d. contributor; activities-East Africa; Anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT); East Africa