The Global Financial Crisis and the Reforms to IMF Lending

The global financial crisis of 2007-09 has spurred a number of reforms to the Fund's lending toolkit, including the use of ex-ante conditionality to make crisis prevention instruments available to member countries. This has led to the creation of new credit lines and the enhancement of high access precautionary arrangements (HAPAs) in stand-by arrangements (SBA). By analysing the changes to IMF lending, the paper pursues a twofold objective. On the one hand, the analysis assesses the extent of change brought about by the most recent reforms. In other words, the paper attempts assessing what is really new in the Fund's reforms. On the other hand, the paper speculates on the implications of the reforms to IMF lending for the Fund's role as a lender of last resort