IMF Concludes Steps to Maintain its Lending Capacity

January 8, 2021

Washington, DC: With the support by creditors for a doubling of the IMF’s New Arrangements to Borrow (NAB) and a new round of new bilateral borrowing agreements (BBAs), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has maintained its lending capacity at around US$1 trillion for the coming years. This is of particular importance in the context of increased demand for IMF resources due to the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing heightened risks.

Since the membership’s endorsement in 2019 of a package on IMF resources and governance reform, the IMF has worked closely with its creditor members.

The IMF’s New Arrangements to Borrow (NAB), the second line of defense after quota resources, have been strengthened. In January 2020, the Executive Board approved a NAB reform that included a doubling of the size of the NAB and setting a new NAB period through 2025. Creditors have since provided the necessary consents and this reform took effect as targeted on January 1, 2021. Following the effectiveness of the reform, 38 NAB participants contribute an aggregate amount of SDR 361 billion (USD 521 billion) to the Fund’s resource envelope (Table 1).

In addition, work proceeded to maintain access to bilateral borrowing agreements (BBAs) as the third line of defense. On March 30, 2020, the Executive Board approved a framework for a new round of bilateral borrowing, to succeed agreements in place through end-2020. Within this framework, a new set of agreements beyond 2020 (2020 BBAs) have been introduced to replace the 2016 BBAs, which expired at end-2020. New bilateral borrowing agreements with 42 creditors for a total of SDR 138 billion (USD 195 billion) have become effective (Table 2). [1] The 2020 BBAs have an initial term of three years through end-2023 and may be extended for one further year.

Information on NAB credit amounts and bilateral borrowing agreements is available at respective country pages and through the IMF Financial Data Query Tool at the IMF website. The latest amounts will be reflected in the next reporting period.



[1] Updated as of September 24, 2021.

 


Table 1. New Arrangements to Borrow: Amounts by Creditor

Participant

Amount (in SDR billion)

Current Participants

360.80

Australia

4.44

Austria

3.64

Banco Central de Chile

1.38

Banco de Portugal

1.57

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas

0.68

Bank of Israel

0.68

Belgium

7.99

Brazil

8.88

Canada

7.75

China

31.72

Cyprus

0.68

Danmarks Nationalbank

3.26

Deutsche Bundesbank

25.78

Finland

2.27

France

18.96

Hong Kong Monetary Authority

0.68

India

8.88

Italy

13.80

Japan

67.02

Korea

6.69

Kuwait

0.34

Luxembourg

0.99

Malaysia

0.68

Mexico

5.08

National Bank of Poland

2.57

Netherlands

9.19

New Zealand

0.68

Norway

3.93

Russian Federation

8.88

Saudi Arabia

11.31

Singapore

1.30

South Africa

0.68

Spain

6.81

Sveriges Riksbank

4.51

Swiss National Bank

11.08

Thailand

0.68

United Kingdom

18.96

United States

56.40

Prospective Participants

3.60

Greece

1.68

Ireland

1.92

 

Table 2. 2020 Bilateral Borrowing Agreements: Amounts by Creditor 1/

Member (Creditor)

Currency of commitment

Amount (in billions of currency)

 Algeria (Bank of Algeria) LINK USD 2.15 

Australia

LINK 

SDR

1.99

Austria (Oesterreichische Nationalbank)

LINK

EUR

2.64

Belgium (National Bank of Belgium)

LINK 

EUR

4.30

Brazil (Banco Central do Brasil)

LINK 

USD

3.90

Brunei Darussalam

LINK

USD

0.13

Canada

LINK 

SDR

3.53

Chile (Central Bank of Chile)

LINK 

SDR

0.27

China (People's Bank of China)

LINK 

USD

21.22

Czech Republic (Czech National Bank)

LINK 

EUR

0.65

Denmark (Danmarks Nationalbank)

LINK 

EUR

2.28

Estonia (Eesti Pank)

LINK 

EUR

0.16

Finland (Bank of Finland)

LINK 

EUR

1.62

France

LINK 

EUR

13.53

Germany (Deutsche Bundesbank)

LINK 

EUR

17.88

India (Reserve Bank of India)             

LINK

USD

3.90

Italy (Bank of Italy)

LINK 

EUR

10.12

Japan

LINK 

USD

25.85

Korea

LINK 

USD

6.46

Lithuania (Bank of Lithuania)

LINK            

EUR

0.30

Luxembourg

LINK 

EUR

0.89

Malaysia (Bank Negara Malaysia)

LINK

USD

0.43

Malta (Central Bank of Malta) 

LINK

EUR

0.11

Mexico (Banco de Mexico)

LINK 

USD

4.31

Netherlands (De Nederlandsche Bank NV)

LINK 

EUR

5.86

New Zealand

LINK 

USD

0.43

Norway (Norges Bank)

LINK 

SDR

2.59

Peru (Central Reserve Bank of Peru)

LINK

SDR

0.47

Philippines (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas)   USD  0.43

Poland (Narodowy Bank Polski)

LINK 

EUR

2.70

Russia (Central Bank of the Russian Federation)

LINK 

USD

3.90

Saudi Arabia

LINK 

USD

6.46

Singapore (Monetary Authority of Singapore)

LINK

USD

1.72

Slovak Republic

LINK 

EUR

0.67

Slovenia (Bank of Slovenia)

LINK 

EUR

0.39

South Africa (South African Reserve Bank)

LINK 

USD

0.86

Spain             

LINK

EUR

6.40

Sweden (Sveriges Riksbank)

LINK 

SDR

3.19

Switzerland (Swiss National Bank)

LINK 

CHF

3.66

Thailand (Bank of Thailand)

LINK

USD

1.72

Turkey (Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey)

LINK 

USD

2.15

United Kingdom

LINK 

SDR

3.95

1/ Where individual creditors consent to publication of their signed 2020 BBA, the text of the agreement is also being made available.

 
IMF Communications Department
MEDIA RELATIONS

PRESS OFFICER: Wafa Amr

Phone: +1 202 623-7100Email: MEDIA@IMF.org

@IMFSpokesperson