IMF approves $3.6 billion long-term lending support for low-income countries

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a set of reforms to the Fund’s concessional lending facilities and a strategy to preserve the Fund’s ability to provide adequate support to Low-Income Countries (LICs) over the long term.

A statement by the IMF Monday said these reforms are detailed in the staff paper “2024 Review of the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) Facilities and Financing—Reform Proposals.”

The fund said it significantly scaled-up support to its low-income members in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent major shocks.

“The annual lending commitments have risen to an average of SDR 5.5 billion since 2020, compared with about SDR 1.2 billion during the preceding decade,” the statement said.

“Outstanding PRGT credit has tripled since the pandemic’s onset, while funding costs at the SDR interest rate have risen sharply. As a result, the PRGT faces an acute funding shortfall, with its…