IMF Support for COVID-19 Recovery

More from the Series

Blog Post
A Growing Financial Hole Risks Sinking the PRGT
March 10, 2023
In a recent piece with my colleague Mark Plant, I highlighted the financial pressures facing the IMF’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT). The surge in PRGT lending during the pandemic and the continued high level of lending since then provided essential support to low-income countries (LICs)...
Blog Post
Funding Hybrid Capital at the AfDB Is the Best Deal for SDR Donors
March 09, 2023
Many advanced-economy countries are looking for ways to recycle their excess Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to support more vulnerable countries whose economies are being buffeted by the economic aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The G20 has pledged $100 billion ...
Blog Post
Launching the RST: Country Policies Must Adapt—and So Too Must IMF Conditionality
February 21, 2023
The IMF’s new Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST) is now up and running, with the first countries receiving commitments of financial support. But if lending from the RST is to achieve its objectives, the IMF should take a radically different approach in applying conditions to the loans.
Blog Post
A February 2023 Update on SDR Recycling: Getting Closer But Still Not There!
February 15, 2023
As the development community's attention turns increasingly to climate mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage, special drawing rights (SDRs) are once again being bandied about as a potential financing source.
Blog Post
A Valentine’s Day Gift for the AfDB’s Campaign for SDR Recycling—But Now We Need More Heart
February 15, 2023
Months of innovative work by AfDB staff have resulted in an attractive SDR recycling scheme that overcomes a major hurdle by successfully embodying the reserve asset characteristic. And it will allow leveraging SDRs to multiply their lending power 3-4 times. Now politicians have to step up and commi...
Blog Post
Can SDRs Be Used for Loss and Damage Finance?
January 10, 2023
At COP27 last November, the parties agreed to provide “loss and damage” funding for vulnerable countries hit hard by climate disasters. Governments also agreed to establish a “transitional committee” to make recommendations on how to operationalize both the new funding arrangements and the fund at C...
Blog Post
Takeaways from the IMF’s Annual Report on SDR Trading
January 09, 2023
The past year was tumultuous for SDRs, but we’ve now managed to decipher the annual report and extract the must-knows to help you have a more enjoyable experience when you read it! The report covers the first year after the historic allocation of SDR 456 billion ($650 billion) in August 2021 and pro...