IMF Executive Board Approves an Extension of the Temporarily Higher Cumulative Access Limits

The IMF Executive Board approved on June 27, 2023 an extension of the temporarily higher Cumulative Access Limits (CALs) under the Fund’s Emergency Financing (EF) instruments, the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) and the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI). The temporarily higher cumulative access limits ensure the Fund will have the capacity to support countries in case of renewed emergency situations, in the period in which countries are still in the process of repaying emergency financing received during the pandemic.

The temporarily higher cumulative access limits under the RFI will be maintained until end-June 2024, when most RFI recipients will have repaid a significant part of their past emergency financing. The temporarily higher cumulative access limits under the RCF will be maintained until the completion of the 2024/25 comprehensive review of the Fund’s concessional facilities and financing, given the longer repayment schedule for RCF financing.

The Board also approved a 6-month extension of the Food Shock Window (FSW) under the RCF and RFI, until end-March 2024.The Food Shock Window was approved by the Executive Board in September 2022 for 12 months, as a complement to the tools used by the Fund to support the broader international effort to address the global food shock. The Fund has been working closely with the World Bank, the World Food Programme, the World Trade Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization, both at headquarter and country levels, to provide a coordinated international response to the global food shock. The Fund has contributed through policy advice, technical assistance and lending. Where needed and possible, financial support to countries affected by the global food shock has been delivered by the IMF through multi-year Fund-supported programs (Upper-Credit Tranche quality programs). Since September 2022, twenty-one countries affected by the global food shock have benefited from this type of programs. The Food Shock Window complemented this support in situations where UCT-quality programs were not feasible or not necessary. The Fund disbursed in total US$1.8 billion (SDR 1.4 billion) for six countries under the Food Shock Window, To read more click here

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