Imf Lending At Near-Record Level
International Monetary Fund (IMF)s lending in 1997 due to drawings by east Asian economies currently engulfed in a currency crisis rose close to the record 1995 level of $25 billion.
According to an IMF survey, the lending, of about $23 billion, was almost triple the level of 1996. These funds were all disbursed under stand-by arrangements.
The crisis-ridden Asian nations were not the sole recipients of IMF lending under stand-by arrangements.
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Other countries requiring large disbursements included Argentina, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Romania, the survey said.
Disbursements under the extended fund facility increased slightly in 1997 and were dominated by drawings totalling $2 billion by Russia.
The survey said members receiving large ESAF (enhanced structural arrangement facility) included Pakistan ($154 million ), Tanzania, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
At the end of 1997, 58 member countries were implementing macroeconomic and structural programmes supported by IMF credits.
A total of $59 billion in IMF financing was committed as of the end of the year, of which $31 billion were not drawn, it added.