The past year was "a deeply challenging one for many IMF members and for the Fund itself", notes IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde in the IMF's 2012 Annual Report.
Lagarde emphasises that the IMF “must continue to apply all of its analytical essence and forward-thinking creativity to help its members overcome current problems and build a bridge” to a better world.
The Report highlights the IMF’s work during financial year (FY) 2012, which covers the period from May 1, 2011, through April 30, 2012, and focuses on the core areas of IMF activity: assessing the economic and financial policies of member countries, providing financing to member countries, and reinforcing their technical capacities.
Major steps were taken during the year to improve the methods and outputs associated with the IMF’s oversight of member countries’ economic and financial policies (a core IMF responsibility known as “surveillance”), according to the Report. The Fund concluded its comprehensive triennial review of surveillance activities, concurring with an action plan to strengthen surveillance in the areas of interconnections, risk assessments, financial stability, external stability, the legal framework and policy traction. An analysis of global external spillovers from the five largest economies was conducted for the first time, and a new Consolidated Multilateral Surveillance Report was issued.
Demand for IMF resources continued to be strong in FY2012, the Report notes, though the pace of increase slowed relative to FY2011. During the year, the IMF approved 24 new or augmented financing arrangements totalling $54.5 billion, with 17 of those going to low-income countries eligible for support from the Fund’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust. IMF members made commitments to boost the organisation’s financing resources by $430 billion during the year (with an additional $26 billion pledged since the end of FY2012), and they contributed additional funds for subsidising financing to low-income members. Furthermore, as part of ongoing efforts to ensure that the IMF’s financing toolkit remains responsive to members’ needs, a new Precautionary and Liquidity Line was introduced, replacing the existing Precautionary Credit Line.
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