DUSHANBE, June 5, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will build upon ongoing efforts to respond rapidly and boldly to the needs of its membership during the current global crisis and will continue to mobilize commitments for increased resources, complete the overhaul of the Fund’s lending framework, further strengthen the quality of its surveillance, and consider reforms in the key area of the Fund’s own governance, press release issued by IMF on June 4 said.

The Fund will strengthen the global financial safety net by taking steps to boost its resources further, strengthen its concessional lending capacity, and adapt its lending tools for low-income countries.  It will also monitor and analyze the policy responses by member countries to cope with the impact of the crisis, consider the key issues that countries will have to deal with upon exiting from the crisis and ensure that Fund-supported programs enable countries to restore stability as effectively as possible.

The Executive Board will soon discuss documents to allow the Fund’s first issuance of notes to its members, or their central banks, which will also bolster the Fund’s capacity to provide timely and effective financial assistance to its members. Furthermore, the Executive Board will discuss proposals for expanding the Fund’s concessional lending capacity. The Board is also expected to consider a proposal by the end of June, to implement a general allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to members in an amount equivalent to US$250 billion.

According to press release, the recent doubling of access limits for concessional lending to low-income countries was already an important step forward. In the coming weeks, the Executive Board will further consider financing options to support a significant increase in subsidized lending to these countries. Further reform of the Fund’s lending framework for low-income countries will ensure that the spillovers from the global crisis do not roll back the hard-won gains in poverty reduction and economic stability that many poor countries have made in recent years. To that end, the Executive Board will discuss in July proposals to simplify and strengthen the lending facility architecture and financing framework for the poorest nations.

We will recall that the IMF Executive Board on April 21, 2009 approved a three-year, about US$116 million arrangement under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) for Tajikistan to support the authorities'' economic program.

In the meantime, in a report released at a meeting with representatives of donor organizations in Dushanbe, Finance Minister Safarali Najmiddinov noted on May 13 that additional some 200 million U.S. dollars are needed to finance the plan of actions to mitigate effects of the global financial crisis.