Who are the prolonged users?
The cases mentioned above are symptomatic of the substantial rise in the past two decades of the number of prolonged users of IMF loans—defined as countries engaged in IMF-supported programs for at least 7 years out of any 10. Indeed, over 30 countries now fall into this category. During 1971-2000, 51 countries out of 128 borrowers were prolonged users at some point (Table 1). Most of the increase in prolonged use has involved low-income countries eligible for the IMF’s concessional (or low interest) loans or “facilities,” but, in financial terms, the bulk of commitments to prolonged users concerns the IMF’s nonconcessional resources, and their expansion has been even larger (see chart). Prolonged use is also persistent in the sense that relatively few countries “graduate” from such use.
