IMF Support for COVID-19 Recovery

More from the Series

Blog Post
The PRGT Must Be Replenished, but There Are No Easy Options
September 14, 2023
The Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT), the IMF’s primary vehicle to support low-income countries (LICs), faces a severe financial crunch. There are many ways in which this hole could be plugged to restore the PRGT, but as explained in a new CGD note, there are obstacles or drawbacks to each ...
CGD NOTES
Whither or Wither the PRGT? Funding Options for a Cash-Strapped PRGT
September 14, 2023
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...
Blog Post
Why Central Banks Might Not Want to Recycle SDRs and Why They Are Wrong
August 23, 2023
Nearly two years have passed since the G20 committed to recycling $100 billion of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) from advanced economies to support more vulnerable countries. The most recent allocation of SDRs, the international reserve asset issued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), was inten...
Blog Post
The Resilience and Sustainability Trust: An Assessment of the First Steps Forward
July 25, 2023
As the RST builds momentum and scores of countries seek its concessional loans and technical assistance, a new CGD paper, The Resilience and Sustainability Trust: Early Learning and Challenges from Costa Rica and Rwanda, provide early learning from the point of view of lower-income countries themsel...
POLICY PAPERS
The Resilience and Sustainability Trust: Early Learning and Challenges from Costa Rica and Rwanda
July 25, 2023
Demand for the IMF's Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST) is strong, and the RST is becoming the IMF’s de facto climate finance facility. At the same time, the RST faces a number of challenges, including being far too small to confront climate resilience. Early lessons from RST pilots in Costa...
Blog Post
Now Is NOT the Time to Increase Funding to the IMF’s RST
July 06, 2023
The IMF’s new Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST) has gotten a lot of support from donors wanting to recycle their IMF special drawing rights (SDRs). As of June 8, total pledges for the RST amount to $40.6 billion, falling $3 billion short of the initial fundraising target. With few recycling ...
Blog Post
A Quick and Easy Way to Subsidize the PRGT
June 16, 2023
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) needs more subsidy resources to continue its concessional lending to low-income countries (LICs) at current levels. Following the example set by the United Kingdom, lenders to the IMF's Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) can build subsidy resources into t...