This Work Program (WP) translates the policy priorities and strategic directions laid out in the Spring 2017 Global Policy Agenda (GPA) and the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) Communiqué into an Executive Board agenda for the next twelve months. The Managing Director’s GPA, welcomed by the IMFC, called on members to continue using supportive policies based on a three-pronged approach to sustain the recovery, to work together within the multilateral framework toward strong and more balanced growth, and to provide economic opportunities for all. It outlined how the Fund would support the membership by promoting efforts to sustain the recovery, lift productivity and increase resilience, and by promoting sustainable policies toward a more inclusive global economy, while facilitating multilateral solutions to global challenges. Where the work extends beyond traditional areas, the WP will focus on macro-relevant issues that are systemically important or relevant for many countries and amenable to change through economic policies.

The Managing Director’s Global Policy Agenda (GPA) presented to the IMFC in April identified a range of actions needed to bolster today’s actual and tomorrow’s potential output, diminish risks, and confront emerging global challenges. These actions included calibrating fiscal adjustment to economic conditions while establishing credible long-term fiscal frameworks and implementing growth-friendly fiscal policies, improving monetary policy effectiveness while containing excessive financial risk-taking, and accelerating structural reforms to raise growth potential and ensure inclusiveness. The GPA also outlined how the Fund would support the membership through assessments and policy advice provided in the context of multilateral and bilateral surveillance, financial support, and capacity building. This document translates the policy priorities laid out in the GPA and the IMFC communiqué into a work agenda for the Executive Board over the next 12 months. In particular, the Board will be engaged on several issues of multilateral scope, including quota reform and resources, the SDR basket review, challenges facing the international monetary system, and the post-2015 global development agenda. The work program also includes several items from the action plan of the 2014 Triennial Surveillance Review (TSR).

The Managing Director’s Global Policy Agenda (GPA) presented to the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) in April called on member countries to reinforce their commitment to strong, sustainable, inclusive, job-rich, and more balanced global growth and to employ a three-pronged approach with monetary, fiscal, and structural actions (Figure 1). The global economy has been impaired by growth that has been too slow for too long, but it can get back on a stronger and safer track with a more forceful and balanced policy mix. Building on the approach of being agile, integrated, and member-focused, the GPA outlined how the Fund would support members in crafting a better policy mix toward durable global growth. The Fund would assist by clarifying the contours of available policy space, providing more tailored financial support and capacity development, and continuing to address new challenges.

The Managing Director’s Global Policy Agenda (GPA) presented to the IMFC last month highlights the challenges associated with a rapidly changing and uncertain world. The limited room for policy maneuver and the need to adapt to new realities pose difficult trade-offs between supporting demand and current activity, reducing financial risks as financial conditions tighten, and implementing needed structural reforms to revive growth. Against this backdrop the GPA called to support growth today, invest in resilience and safeguard financial stability, improve the sustainability of the public finances, implement the structural reforms needed for sustainable and inclusive medium-term growth, and secure the effectiveness of the 2010 reforms. This document translates the policy priorities and strategic directions laid out in the Fall 2015 GPA and the IMFC communiqué into an Executive Board agenda for the next twelve months. The key focus of this agenda is to continue to refine and adapt the Fund’s core activities?surveillance, lending, and capacity building?to the challenges faced by member countries. The 2015 Work Program continues the implementation of the 2014 Triennial Surveillance Review (TSR) recommendations and underpins a broader effort of the Fund to respond to the needs of the membership in an even more agile, integrated, and member-focused manner.

This Work Program (WP) translates the policy priorities and strategic directions laid out in the Fall 2016 Global Policy Agenda (GPA) and the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) Communiqué into an Executive Board agenda for the next six-twelve months. The Managing Director’s GPA called on members to use a balanced mix of all policy tools to revive demand and raise productivity, and ensure that gains from technology and globalization are shared more broadly. The GPA also warned against retreating from multilateralism at a time when cooperation and coordination are critical. It outlined how the Fund would support the membership by helping policymakers identify policy space and enhance resilience; assisting in understanding and tackling the underlying causes of low productivity growth; supporting members to expand economic opportunities—including by ensuring adequate and effective safety nets; and advocating for multilateralism that works for all. Where the work extends beyond traditional areas, the WP will focus on issues with a macro-economic impact that are systemically important or relevant for many and amenable to change through economic policies.

This Work Program (WP) translates the strategic directions and policy priorities laid out in the Fall 2017 Global Policy Agenda (GPA) and the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) Communiqué into an Executive Board agenda for the next twelve months, with a focus on the next six months. The Managing Director’s GPA, fully supported by the IMFC, called on members to take advantage of the window of opportunity from the more favorable conjuncture to tackle key policy challenges by undertaking well-sequenced reforms to increase productivity, reduce policy uncertainty and future risks, and improve governance. Reforms should also aim to harness the benefits of technology and economic integration and ensure that their benefits are widely shared. Tackling challenges to the global economy continues to require cooperation and joint action across the membership.

I welcome the report of the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) on the Euro Area crisis programs. Their work provides an independent and in-depth account, which I have no doubt will make an important contribution to understanding the Fund’s approach to the crisis. As I have emphasized repeatedly, the IEO plays a vital role in enhancing the learning culture within the Fund, strengthening the Fund's external credibility, and supporting the Executive Board's institutional governance and oversight responsibilities.