Background briefing on the CSO-EU SCIMF policy dialogue

20th November 2020

Background briefing on the CSO-EU SCIMF policy dialogue

The EU has invited the CSO community to an NGO - SCIMF policy dialogue. The Economic and Financial Committee's Sub-Committee on the International Monetary Fund (SCIMF) is responsible for coordinating EU policy on the IMF. The SCIMF was established in 2001 in order to ensure a continuous and specific monitoring of IMF activities by EU Member States. It consists of 2 representatives of each Member State (from the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank), as well as two representatives from the European Commission (DG ECFIN) and 2 from the European Central Bank (ECB). The type of issues dealt at SCIMF are usually broad, long-term and strategic. These include donor policy (including debt relief), innovative funding mechanisms, governance of the IMF including the representation of less developed countries, recalculation of quotas, role of IMF in low income countries, and access limits to IMF resources.

The dialogue is an opportunity to discuss the coordination of the EU position on IMF policy with senior officials from national administrations and central banks, the ECB and the European Commission. This is an opportunity to provide inputs to the ongoing policy response of the EU and the IMF to the Covid-19 crisis. As part of this process, the CSO community is requested to provide a background briefing to highlight key policy discussions.

On behalf of the participant CSOs, Eurodad has published the background briefing for the 2020 discussions.

Briefing paper by Eurodad