In the wake of a challenging year, the Bank of England (BoE) has found itself navigating a tumultuous economic landscape marked by significant upheavals. Following the release of the mini-budget in September 2022, the BoE was compelled to take proactive measures to stabilize the financial system. Th...

In this note we assess the potential short-term fiscal impact of these instruments. We look at three major natural disasters over the past two years and assess how much relief each country would have received if DSCs had been included in the totality of their external debt instruments.

The climate financial intermediary funds (FIFs) are one of the largest sources of grant and concessional finance for climate, especially for middle-income countries, but there are significant challenges at the systemic level and differing performance across FIFs. We recommend consolidating funds in ...

The assignment is clear. During this year’s Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank, shareholders instructed the World Bank to develop a work program for its own evolution (“to identify gaps in the Bank’s current institutional and operational framework…”) by the end of the year. Secretary Yellen l...

We are living in a time when many countries face heightened debt vulnerabilities. There is no international bankruptcy mechanism for countries that default on their external obligations. The objective of the international financial architecture—historically overseen by the IMF and its shareholders— ...

Global reserves can serve as a global public good, facilitating the short-term global recovery from the economic impacts of the pandemic and Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as the longer-term global transition to a sustainable and equitable economic future. Strategic allocation of Special Drawi...

When the G20 pledges of $100 billion of SDR recycling materialize, there will no doubt be much self-congratulatory celebration. But the celebrations will be meaningless if the SDRs do not make their way to the low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) that need them. Will we be able to tell if the SD...