RFAs’ Financial Structures and Lending Capacities: A Statutory, Accounting and Credit Rating Perspective
35 Pages Posted: 3 Aug 2020
Date Written: May 28, 2020
Abstract
This paper documents the diverse financial structures – including capital structures and funding strategies – of Regional Financing Arrangements (RFAs) and offers an analysis of RFAs’ lending capacity from a statutory, accounting and credit rating perspective. Using credit rating agencies’ methodologies, the paper presents the dynamic relationship between RFAs’ financial structures, the support from their member states and their resulting creditworthiness. A stylised model is developed to demonstrate how the relative size of an institution’s paid-in and callable capital, together with its member states’ support, could have an impact on the overall credit rating and lending capacity of an RFA. This paper contributes to the growing policy discussions on the heterogeneity of RFAs and their rising importance in the Global Financial Safety Net.
Keywords: Regional Financing Arrangements, IMF, Credit rating, Capital, Lending capacity, Global Financial Safety Net
JEL Classification: F33; F34; F53; F55; G24
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation