Finance Ministry: Poland will ask for FLC from IMF

Poland's Ministry of Finance confirmed on Tuesday that it has requested a Flexible Line of Credit (FLC) from the International Monetary Fund, but emphasized that the request was simply a part of the Brussels transfer funds exit strategy and that it did not foresee having to use the money. “The funds from the IMF are insured in the event of a crisis, Poland does not plan to use them," the Ministry's statement read. A new line of credit, for PLN 37 billion, necessary to replace the previous one, which had a value of close to PLN 70 billion, will be available beginning in January of 2017. The application was signed jointly by Deputy Minister for Development and Finance Mateusz Morawiecki and president of the National Bank of Poland Adam Glapiński. "This fits in with the implementation of [Poland's] exit strategy, which is the gradual reduction of the use of this instrument,” the statement from the Ministry read. The credit line is typically treated as insurance against external shocks, and funds are not normally withdrawn from it.