IMF loans for Colombia

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

Colombia announces IMF accord for three billion dollar loan
Date: Thu Jul 15 15:40:27 CDT 1999

   BOGOTA, July 15 (AFP) - Colombia will sign an accord with the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a three billion dollar loan to ease
its economic crisis, Finance Minister Juan Camilo Restrepo announced
Thursday.
   The loan "will not be subject to special conditions and will be used to
support (fiscal) adjustment measures that the government is already putting
in place," he said.
   The funds will help narrow the fiscal deficit and counter speculation
against the peso, Colombian officials said.
    Restrepo added that Colombia will be granted a further two billion
dollars in loans from other multilateral organisations such as the
Inter-American Development Bank, and Andean Development Corporation.
   The IMF confirmed in Washington that talks would open "soon" on an
economic stabilization program for Colombia.
   The plan "could be supported" by an IMF loan package, an IMF spokesman
said.
   Speaking at a gathering of Colombia's National Association of Financial
Institutions in Bogota, Restrepo said the loan would follow the pattern of
IMF loan deals with Brazil, Mexico and Argentina.
   In exchange for the loan, the IMF will monitor Colombia's efforts to
implement fiscal adjustment measures such as a reduction in public
expenditure, and a reorganisation of the financial sector, and could impose
other demands related to reform of the pensions system and widening of the
tax base.
   Colombian President Andres Pastrana met with IMF officials in Washington
two months ago for talks on a possible loan. An IMF team has been in Bogota
for the past two weeks evaluating the government's economic strategy.