Economic Commentary: The IMF's lending - how does it work?

Date 26/08/2015

Sweden has been a member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) since 1951. The Riksbank takes part in the funding of the IMF in several different ways. On 20 August this year, the Executive Board of the Riksbank took a decision to extend a loan agreement with the IMF. In this Economic Commentary, the authors describe the conditions under which the IMF lends money to its member countries.

The Commentary describes how the IMF's lending functions in general, and also includes a case study of Ireland's IMF programme, which was concluded in 2013. It can also be regarded as a follow-up to an earlier Economic Commentary on the Riksbank's lending to the IMF.