WASHINGTON: The Inte­r­na­­tional Monetary Fund’s net income position for the fiscal year 2015 was lower than projected a year earlier, the Fund announced on Saturday.

This week, the IMF executive board completed annual review of the Fund’s income position for the financial years 2015 and 2016.

Total 2015 net income, including income from surcharges applied to higher access borrowing from the IMF, is estimated at $2.2 billion. Net income of SDR (special drawing rights) 1.3bn (about $2bn), which excludes the retained earnings of the gold endowment, will be added to the IMF’s precautionary balances, which are projected to reach $19.8bn at end of 2015.

“The net income position for fiscal year 2015 was lower than projected a year earlier,” the report added. This reflected both early repayments by Ireland and Portugal and an adjustment required under the Interna­tional Accounting Standard 19 stemming mainly from a further fall in the discount rate used in the valuation of pension obligations.

Fiscal 2016 income position: Net income of $1.3bn is projected for fiscal 2016. This projection is sensitive to the timing and amounts of disbursements under approved arrangements included in the projections, possible new arrangements, and the performance of the Fund’s investment portfolio. The projected net income will allow the IMF to continue to add to its precautionary balances.

The IMF charges member countries a basic rate of charge on the use of IMF credit, which is determined as the SDR interest rate plus a margin expressed in basis points.

In April 2014 the Executive Board set the margin for this rate of charge at 100 basis points for financial years 2015 and 2016. In the context of this year’s comprehensive review of the Fund’s income position at the midpoint of this two-year period, the executive board concluded that the margin should remain unchanged.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play