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IMF lending halved in 1999 as crisis eased

WASHINGTON: IMF lending halved to some $14.5 billion in 1999 as countries, relieved at the end of the world financial crisis, toned down their demands for cash, the International Monetary Fund said on Monday.

Figures released in the Feb. 7 edition of the fund's biweekly IMF Survey said Brazil was the largest single borrower during the year, although Russia and Ukraine both received large disbursements of IMF cash.

Total lending was sharply below 1998's $29.0 billion and also below the $22.7 billion the IMF loaned in 1997, the year the crisis started in Thailand and spread across Asia.

"Member countries use of IMF cash decreased in 1999...as economies recovered from the severe crisis that had affected many regions in 1998," the IMF said.

"At the end of 1999, 58 member countries were implementing macroeconomic and structural programmes supported by financing from the IMF."

The IMF, which has 182 member countries, put together rescue deals worth tens of billions of dollars in both 1997 and 1998, as one country after another succumbed to the deepening crisis.

But the problems eased in 1999, and big borrowers like South Korea and Thailand stopped tapping the fund for cash.

The IMF released its figures in special drawing rights, the quasi currency the fund uses for accounting purposes.

It said low-interest loans to poor countries accounted for some $995 million of total 1999 lending, while $4.9 billion was paid out under a lending window which charges higher-than-normal interest rates to countries needing short-term emergency funding.-Reuters