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      As Reuters recently reported: "…IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus told a news conference on Friday the lending agency could arrange new loan packages to bail out countries in crisis despite past warnings to Congress that its cash reserves might be too low."

      "I welcome the acknowledgement of the IMF that it is not destitute," Saxton responded. "As I have said for many months, the IMF has $43 billion in quota resources, $23 billion in the General Arrangements to Borrow and $32 billion in gold."

      "Even after the Russian loan is accounted for, the IMF has access to more than $85 billion, a tidy sum, even if not all of it can be loaned," Saxton said. "Now that the General Accounting Office has confirmed the JEC figures, the IMF's financial situation is clear. Furthermore, the IMF has the authority to borrow an additional $50 to $60 billion in the financial markets."

      "The Clinton Administration's attempts to understate the IMF's financial resources have been misleading," Saxton said. "Perhaps the Treasury will take the lead from the IMF and refrain from trying to frighten people into support for its position on IMF appropriations."

      "Now that the JEC has forced the facts about IMF finances to the surface, perhaps IMF issues can be seriously debated on their merits," Saxton said. "Prominent among these would be the failure of the IMF program to avert both the Russian crisis and its effects on international financial markets."

      For more information about the JEC's calls for IMF reforms, read the IMF reform page at the JEC website.

Press Release: #105-166

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