Member's Documents
The IMF’s Exceptional Access Policy
Published by: Independent Evaluation Office of the International Monetary Fund
The evaluation encompasses the EAP’s objectives and design, its successive reforms, and the experience with its implementation. The EAP builds on the Fund’s long-standing principle that higher access must be accompanied by higher safeguards, which are sought principally through program design. It adds three elements: (i) four exceptional access criteria (EAC)—relating to the size of BOP needs, debt sustainability at a suitably high standard, prospects for market access, and reasonably strong prospects for program success; (ii) enhanced decision-making procedures; and (iii) ex post evaluations (EPEs). The Fund has reviewed the EAP only once, in 2004, although it modified the policy in 2009, 2010, and 2016.
The evaluation draws on the experience with the 38 EA arrangements during the evalu- ation period. It includes a series of thematic background papers and case studies, including of the three largest completed arrangements since the EAP’s last reform in 2016—with Argentina (2018), Ecuador (2020), and Egypt (2020).
Additional Documents
The IMF’s Exceptional Access Policy Executive Summary
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