WASHINGTON 29 July 2009: The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved unprecedented measures that will sharply increase the resources available to low-income countries in this time of global crisis.
The resources—including from the sale of IMF gold— are expected to boost the Fund’s concessional lending by up to 17 billion US dollar through 2014, including up to 8 billion US dollar over the next two years. In addition, the IMF announced zero interest payments on outstanding concessional loans through end-2011 for all low-income members. A new set of lending instruments will underpin this increased support.
– This is an unprecedented scaling up of IMF support for the poorest countries, in Sub-Saharan Africa and all over the world, said IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and added: – The G20 asked the Fund to help respond to the global economic crisis, which has hit the low-income nations so hard, and we are responding with a historic set of actions in terms of support for the world’s poor. The new resources and new means of delivering them should help prevent millions of people from falling into poverty.
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