 has approved extensions of temporary adjustments made to its lending frameworks){kind=link}
The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved further extensions of temporary adjustments made to its lending frameworks in the early months of the pandemic, allowing for adequate access to Fund financing through emergency instruments, the General Resources Account (GRA), and the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT).
The extensions of these measures reflect the unique circumstances created by the pandemic and will ensure that member countries continue to be able to access IMF financing, through both IMF-supported programs and emergency financing in case of urgent balance of payments needs.
The IMF Executive Board approved an extension through end-2021 of the increases in annual and cumulative access limits that apply to the IMF’s emergency financing instruments, introduced in April 2020 and extended in October 2020 .
So far during the pandemic, 74 member countries, of which 49 low-income countries (LIC), received emergency financing through these instruments.
The Executive Board also approved an extension of the increase in the annual access limit to the IMF’s GRA, introduced in July 2020 , through end-2021, and an increase in both annual and cumulative access limits on concessional lending through the PRGT, through end-June 2021.
The increase in access to PRGT financing, as interim measure for a broader assessment of the Fund’s approach to concessional financing, recognizes that many LICs have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic and have already borrowed significantly from the IMF.
Higher limits would therefore provide flexibility for poorer countries in the coming months to avoid having to request support through the Fund’s general resources on non-concessional terms.