The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday agreed to temporarily increase the limits on members’ annual and cumulative access to fund resources in the General Resources Account (GRA).
These changes are intended to better support the Fund’s members in a particularly challenging and uncertain economic environment.
A statement issued by IMF on its website on Monday said lending was subject to both an annual and a cumulative limit on a member’s access to the Fund’s general resources, and access to resources beyond these limits was subject to the requirements of the Fund’s exceptional access framework.
It said the access limits for the GRA were last set in 2016, with an annual limit of 145 per cent of quota and a cumulative limit of 435 per cent of quota.
“Today’s decision raises the annual limit in the GRA to 200 per cent of quota and the cumulative limit to 600 per cent of quota for a period of 12 months. These changes will provide member countries—particularly emerging markets and developing economies—that face increased financing pressures and vulnerabilities to access with higher Fund financial support without triggering the exceptional access framework. If circumstances warrant, staff would re-engage the Executive Board before the end of the 12-month period on a proposal to maintain for longer the higher GRA access limits,” the statement said.
The statement noted the Executive Board also discussed possible changes in access limits under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT), the Fund’s concessional financing arm.
It said PRGT access limits were last raised by 45 percent in 2021, bringing them into alignment with GRA access limits for the first time.
The Fund will undertake a review of PRGT access limits once sufficient additional resources have been pledged to the PRGT, which currently faces a sizable subsidy resource gap.
BY TIMES REPORTER
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