LENDER OF LAST RESORT

An institution or an entity that has the authority and financial resources to offer loans to banks or other qualified institutions, which undergo financial difficulty, or are regarded highly risky or almost in collapse. A lender is usually a country’s central bank. In the US, for instance, the Federal Reserve serves as the lender of last resort to institutions who do not have any other means of borrowing and failure to attain credit would affect the economy. But when a country’s central bank itself goes through financial difficulties, the International Monetary Fund may act as the lender of last resort.