This paper takes a fresh look at the purpose and modalities of conditionality for the use of the Fund’s resources. It is part of a broader review of Fund lending facilities that includes access levels, charges and maturities, the analytical basis for Fund lending, and facilities for low income countries. It aims to explore options for more flexible approaches that would be responsive to the changing needs and circumstances of the Fund’s members while providing adequate safeguards for Fund resources. While these options have been developed with General Resources Account (GRA) facilities in mind as a complement to the companion paper on the analytical framework, they could apply, as appropriate, to facilities and instruments used by low income members.

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) considered a series of papers to reform the Fund's nonconcessional lending framework. This culminated in the approval of a major overhaul of the IMF’s lending framework, including the creation of a new Flexible Credit Line (FCL). The changes to the IMF’s lending framework which are described in GRA Lending Toolkit and Conditionality—Reform Proposalsand GRA Lending Toolkit and Conditionality—Reform Proposals—Revised Proposed Decisions include: • modernizing IMF conditionality for all borrowers, • introducing a new Flexible Credit Line, • enhancing the flexibility of the Fund’s traditional stand-by arrangement, • doubling normal access limits for nonconessional resources, • simplifying cost and maturity structures, and • eliminating certain seldom-used facilities. The series of papers are: Review of Fund Facilities—Analytical Basis for Fund Lending and Reform Options, Conditionality in fund-Supported Programs—Purposes, Modalities and Options for Reform, Charges and Maturities and Proposals for Reform, Supplement 1 and Supplement 2, Review of Fund Facilities—Analytical Basis for Fund Lending and Reform Options, and Review of Limits on Access to Financing in the Credit Tranches and Under the Extended Fund Facility, and Overall Access Limits Under the General Resources Account provide the background on the earlier discussion of reforms in each of these areas.

The Fund regularly assesses conditionality in IMF-supported programs, with the next formal review planned for 2011. This paper summarizes previous assessments of conditionality, outlines staff’s proposed approach to the forthcoming review, and seeks Directors’ early views on the approach.

This note aims to provide guidance on the key principles and considerations underlying the design of Fund-supported programs. The note expands on the previous operational guidance notes on conditionality published over 2003-2014, incorporating lessons from the 2018-19 Review of Conditionality, and other recent key policy developments including the recommendation of the Management’s Implementation Plan in response to Independent Evaluation Office (IEO)’s report on growth and adjustment in IMF-supported programs. The note in particular highlights operational advice to (i) improve the realism of macroeconomic forecast in programs and fostering a more systematic analysis of contingency plans and risks; (ii) improve the focus, depth, implementation, and tailoring of structural conditions (SCs), with due consideration of growth effects; and (iii) help strengthen the ownership of country authorities. Designed as a comprehensive reference and primer on program design and conditionality in an accessible and transparent manner, the note refers in summary to a broad range of economic and policy considerations over the lifecycle of Fund-supported programs. As with all guidance notes, the relevant IMF Executive Board Decisions remain the primary legal authority on matters covered in this note.

With single-digit inflation and substantial financial deepening, developing countries are adopting more flexible and forward-looking monetary policy frameworks and ascribing a greater role to policy interest rates and inflation objectives. While some countries have adopted formal inflation targeting regimes, others have developed frameworks with greater target flexibility to accommodate changing money demand, use of policy rates to signal the monetary policy stance, and implicit inflation targets.

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The following is the provisional agenda for the Twenty-First Meeting of the International Monetary and Financial Committee, which is to be convened at the Fund’s Headquarters in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, April 24, 2010. A joint working dinner of IMFC members and G-20 ministers will be held on Friday, April 23 at 7:30 p.m. in HQ1–Meeting Halls A & B. The IMFC meeting will be followed by the press conference of the IMFC Chairman and the Managing Director at 2:30 p.m.

The 2018 Review of Program Design and Conditionality is the first comprehensive stocktaking of Fund lending operations since the global financial crisis. The review assesses program performance between September 2011 and end-2017. Programs during this period were defined by the protracted structural challenges faced by members and hampered by the persistently weak global environment.

This paper is intended to accompany “The Fund’s Role and Mandate—An Overview” (the “Mandate Overview Paper”). Taking into account the issues raised in the Mandate Overview Paper and, in particular, the potential areas for reform that it identifies, this paper provides a brief analysis of both the constraints and flexibility that exist under the existing legal framework. At the outset, it is useful to identify several aspects of this framework that are of particular relevance.

The 2000-02 comprehensive review of the Fund’s conditionality culminated in the adoption of a set of conditionality guidelines by the Executive Board on September 25, 2002. The 2002 Conditionality Guidelines (the “guidelines”) replace the 1979 Conditionality Guidelines and the Interim Guidance Note on Streamlining Structural Conditionality of September 18, 2000. A review of experience with the guidelines, looking at how they have been implemented and at their impact, is conducted periodically; summary statistics on conditionality have been prepared annually since 2008.