Last Updated: August 22, 2008
Lending
Growing coffee in Brazil (photo: Kheled El Fiqi/epa/Corbis)
Country News
IMF Plans Additional Help for Haiti
June 6, 2008
The IMF is planning additional assistance for Haiti, which has been badly affected by the recent sharp rise in commodity prices. 
IMF Works With Vulnerable States on Food Price Policies
April 28, 2008
The IMF is working with vulnerable member countries to assess the fiscal, balance-of-payments, and income effects of higher food prices and of higher commodity prices.
In Signal to Donors, IMF to Lend Togo $108 million
April 21, 2008
The IMF became becoming the first major international financial institution to resume lending to the west African state after most donors withdrew financial support more than a decade ago.
Liberia: IMF Provides New Financing
March 18, 2008
In a move to back Liberia's economic recovery after 14 years of civil war, the IMF will support one of Africa's poorest countries with debt relief and new financing.
Iraq Makes Progress on Economic Front
February 13, 2008
In December, the IMF approved a new Stand-By Arrangement for Iraq. In light of its strong international reserves position, Iraq is treating the new arrangement as precautionary, which means that they do not intend to draw these resources.
Policy Overview
IMF Reviews its Lending Policies
March 7, 2008
Countries' need for IMF resources will continue to be shaped by global economic conditions and countries' individual circumstances.
Policy paper on review of IMF lending rules and practices
Factsheet: Poverty Reduction and Growth
Factsheet: Emergency Assistance
Factsheet: Where the IMF Gets its Money
Key Issue: Low-income Countries
Who's Borrowing
Current IMF Lending Arrangements
Stand-by Arrangement with Turkey
March 21, 2008
Commentary
Role in Low-Income Countries
October 20, 2007
"The IMF has an important role to play in low-income countries, providing policy advice and technical assistance in its core areas of expertise, and balance of payments financing, when needed." Henry Paulson, U.S. Treasury Secretary
Lender of Last Resort
September 29, 2007
"It would be a grave mistake to assume that the world no longer needs a lender of last resort." Fred Mishkin, Federal Reserve Board Governor
Ready to Help Member Countries
September 27, 2007
"It worries me a lot when people say the IMF can just go away. You have to think of the Fund as something of an insurance policy for the member countries." Anne O. Krueger, former IMF Deputy Managing Director
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Spotlight
How IMF Lending Helps Countries with Health, Social Spending
Lending: A Changing Role in the IMF Income Model
April 7, 2008
A new package of measures will set the IMF's finances on a sound long-term footing. The move is designed to end the institution's overreliance on income from lending operations to finance its work.
Read more about the IMF's Finances
Research & Publications
Does IMF Help or Hurt?
January 2008
The study finds evidence that IMF involvement reduces the probability of currency crises.
IMF Drawing Programs: Participation Determinants and Forecasting
July 1, 2007
Author Eugenio Cerutti studies the factors that have influenced countries' participation in IMF lending programs.
Modeling the Use of Fund Resources--Analytical Approaches and Projections
