This review assesses the experience gained to date in carrying out the longer-term program engagement (LTPE) policy and preparing the ex post assessments (EPAs). It discusses the main characteristics of LTPE members and the findings of the EPAs, analyzes the role of the EPAs in the Fund’s due diligence, and provides recommendations for improving their effectiveness.

Longer-term program engagement (LTPE) occurs when a member has spent at least seven of the past 10 years under Fund-supported financial arrangements. In response to the Executive Board’s request for periodic updates on the incidence of LTPEs, this is the fifteenth such report and provides information through September 1, 2014

Longer-term program engagement (LTPE) occurs when a member has spent at least seven of the past 10 years under Fund-supported financial arrangements. In response to the Executive Board’s request for periodic updates on the incidence of LTPEs, this is the twelfth such report and provides information through June 22, 2011.

Financial sector issues and policies are central to the Fund’s surveillance mission, as the recent crisis has amply demonstrated, and the institution has placed a high priority on enhancing the coverage and depth of analysis of financial sector issues in surveillance. Achieving this goal requires far-reaching operational and resource adjustments, which are already underway. However, these alone may not be enough. Changes in the Fund’s mandate and modalities of surveillance may also be needed. A key goal of these changes should be to strengthen multilateral surveillance. New analytical tools and effective forms of engagement at the global level are crucial for financial surveillance, given an increasingly interconnected and globalized international financial system. At the same time, financial surveillance at the country level should also be strengthened and become a central part of the Article IV consultation process.

This report reviews the Kyrgyz Republic’s economic performance under Fund-supported programs from early 2005 to mid-2010. Two Fund-supported programs are assessed: the March 2005 Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF, which expired in May 2008), and the December 2008 Exogenous Shock Facility (ESF, which expired in June 2010). Earlier Fund-supported programs were discussed in the Kyrgyz Republic’s first Ex Post Assessment (EPA), which was completed in November 2004. The assessment does not cover performance under the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF), which was approved by the Executive Board on September 15, 2010.

This Handbook provides guidance to staff on the IMF’s concessional financial facilities and non-financial instruments for low-income countries (LICs), defined here as all countries eligible to obtain concessional financing from the Fund. It updates the previous version of the Handbook that was published in December 2017 (IMF, 2017e) by incorporating modifications resulting from the 2018–19 Review of Facilities for Low-Income Countries and Review of the Financing of the Fund’s Concessional Assistance and Debt Relief to Low-Income Member Countries (IMF, 2019a, b), approved by the Board in May 2019; the reforms introduced in 2021 on the basis of the Board paper Fund Concessional Financial Support for Low-Income Countries—Responding to the Pandemic (IMF, 2021a), approved in July 2021; and a number of other recent Board papers. Designed as a comprehensive reference tool for program work on LICs, the Handbook also refers, in summary form, to a range of relevant policies that apply more generally to IMF members. As with all guidance notes, the relevant IMF Executive Board decisions including the terms of the various LIC Trust Instruments that have been adopted by the Board, remain the primary legal authority on the matters covered in the Handbook.

The Fund’s concessional facilities are aimed at providing flexible and tailored support to low-income countries (LICs) in their efforts to achieve, maintain, or restore a stable and sustainable macroeconomic position consistent with strong and durable poverty reduction and growth.