Under the Articles of Agreement, the IMF is to make its general resources temporarily available to members "under adequate safeguards." The IMF considers the principal safeguard of repayment to be strong economic adjustment programs but has also adopted specific measures to protect against misuse of IMF resources by ensuring that members have in pl [..]

A decision by the IMF that gives a member the assurance that the institution stands ready to provide foreign exchange or SDRs in accordance with the terms of the decision during a specified period of time. An IMF arrangement—which is not a legal contract—is approved by the Executive Board in support of an economic program under which th [..]

A regular, usually annual, comprehensive discussion between the IMF staff and representatives of individual member countries concerning the member's economic and financial policies. The basis for these discussions is in Article IV of the IMF Articles of Agreement (as amended, effective 1978) which direct the Fund to exercise firm surveillance over [..]

The interest rate that is charged on outstanding IMF credit financed from the IMF's general resources. The basic rate is determined by the IMF's net income target in any financial year and is stated as a proportion of the SDR interest rate.

A measure of a country's general level of prices based on the cost of a typical basket of consumer goods and services.

To avoid duplication of requirements by the IMF and the World Bank—known as cross-conditionality—there is an understanding that each institution must proceed with its own financial assistance according to the standards laid down in its Articles of Agreement and the policies adopted by its Executive Board. In other words, compliance with [..]

The currency holdings of the IMF are the resources held at its disposal in the IMF No. 1 Account, No. 2 Account, and IMF Securities Account in its member countries which are obtained as a result of member's quota payments and transactions and operations between the IMF and members.

Each member designates a fiscal agency (ministry of finance, central bank, or similar entity) as a channel for the conduct of financial transactions with the IMF and a depository (central bank or similar agency) to maintain the accounts of the IMF (the IMF No. 1 and No. 2 Accounts and the Securities Account).

Facility established in December 1987 to provide assistance on concessional terms to low-income member countries facing protracted balance of payments problems. (Changed to the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility in 1999.)

The part of a member’s currency held in the General Resources Account (GRA) that reflects the member’s use of IMF credit and is therefore excluded when determining the member’s reserve tranche position in the IMF. When determining a member’s reserve tranche position, holdings in the IMF No. 2 Account that are less than 1/10t [..]