IMF approves modification to large natural disaster windows credit facility

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved temporary modifications to access limits under the large natural disaster (LND) windows of the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) and of the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI).

The LND windows were introduced in 2017 to increase available emergency financing for member countries experiencing urgent balance of payments needs arising from large natural disasters where economic damage is equivalent to or exceeds 20 per cent of a country’s GDP.

The temporary modifications increased the annual and cumulative access limits under the LND windows of the RCF and RFI by 50 per cent of quota. This is in line with other recent decisions to temporarily modify access limits under the RCF and RFI to increase available emergency financing for countries responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. These modifications under the LND windows enhance the IMF’s agility and flexibility to respond to large natural disasters.

The modifications to access limits under the LND windows of the RCF and RFI will be in effect through end-2021. This is in line with the lapse of the increases in annual and cumulative access limits that apply to the RCF and RFI, introduced in April 2020 and extended in October 2020 and March 2021.