Lesson 2 of 6

The IMF: surveillance, Article IV reports and lending programmes

The International Monetary Fund does two things that matter directly to lenders in a member country: it regularly examines the country's economy and policies, and it lends to the country when it faces balance of payments problems. This lesson explains how an Article IV consultation works, what its report contains, how an IMF programme is agreed and paid out, how large and how costly IMF loans are, and what the programmes of 1997 meant for the region's financial sectors.

Published 15 October 2026