The IMF’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) faces large financing needs. Unprecedented levels of lending since the start of the pandemic – four to five times higher than before the pandemic – have seriously depleted the PRGT’s subsidy resources. If these are not replenished, the PRGT’s lendi...

The IMF’s concessional lending to low-income countries through its Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) has risen dramatically since the start of the pandemic and demand for the PRGT resources is expected to remain above pre-pandemic levels for quite some time. But the surge in lending has stra...

In this note we consider the technical challenges of channeling SDRs to institutions other than the IMF that have already been approved as ‘prescribed holders’ of SDRs. This innovation, operating in addition to the options described above, would have the potential to significantly increase the volum...