The IMF Forever: An Analysis of the Prolonged Use of Fund Resources

Considerable concern has been expressed about the prolonged use made of International Monetary Fund (IMF) resources by a number of member countries. Some commentators have seen this as being fundamentally at odds with the role of the IMF as a source of temporary balance of payments support and as one aspect of mission creep by the Fund. The perceived importance of the issue is reflected by the fact that the first report of the Fund's Independent Evaluation Office focused on it. This article provides a detailed analysis of the prolonged use of Fund resources. It assesses the extent to which it is a problem and draws on available empirical evidence (both qualitative and quantitative) to isolate the causes of prolonged use. It concludes by examining the policy questions to which prolonged use gives rise.