Sixteenth General Review of Quotas—Report to the Board of Governors and Proposed Resolution, and Proposed Decision to Extend the Deadline for a Review of the Borrowing Guidelines

Book excerpt: A strong, quota-based, and adequately resourced IMF at the center of the Global Financial Safety Net is essential to safeguard global financial stability in an uncertain and shock-prone world. Building on three years of Committee of the Whole meetings, Executive Directors’ feedback, and recent guidance from the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC), this paper sets out for consideration of the Executive Board a proposal for the conclusion of the Sixteenth General Review of Quotas (16th Review) with a 50 percent quota increase allocated to members in proportion to their quotas (“equiproportional increase”). The paper includes for the Executive Board’s approval a Report by the Executive Board to the Board of Governors (BoG) on such an increase, including a draft BoG Resolution. The proposed increase in quotas, once in effect, would replace Bilateral Borrowing Agreements and be linked to a rollback in credit arrangements under the New Arrangements to Borrow, in order to maintain the Fund’s lending capacity. The proposed quota increase would strengthen the quota-based nature of the Fund by reducing its reliance on borrowing, thus ensuring the primary role of quotas in Fund resources. Transitional arrangements for borrowed resources may be needed to maintain the Fund’s lending capacity beyond 2024 until the quota increase becomes effective. Given significant differences in views among members about the quota formula and how to implement a realignment of quota shares, the proposed equiproportional distribution of the quota increase would leave quota shares of members unchanged at this time. However, the membership has signaled the urgency and importance of quota share realignment to better reflect members’ relative positions in the world economy, while protecting the quota shares of the poorest members. Thus, the proposed BoG Resolution includes guidance, building on the recent IMFC discussions, namely to work to develop, by June 2025, possible approaches as a guide for further quota realignment, including through a new quota formula. This work would begin after conclusion of the 16th Review.