##### IMF extends Iraq loan to February

August 3, 2012




The International Monetary Fund announced Friday an extension of a two-year loan window to Iraq by seven months to allow the authorities time to get policy measures on track under the program.

That means Iraq has extra time to borrow from the $1.96 billion in IMF financing that currently remains available.

The loan, initially for $3.6 billion, had been scheduled to expire on July 23 and will now expire on February 23, 2013, the IMF said in a statement.

The IMF executive board approved the extension on July 20 following a request by the Iraqi authorities, the global lender said.

The IMF said the extension will provide the Iraqi authorities with more time to implement the policy measures needed to complete the fund's combined third and fourth reviews under the so-called Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) program.

"The extension will, in particular, provide time for discussions on fiscal policies for the remainder of 2012 and on measures to improve the functioning of the exchange regime," it said.

The IMF approved the SBA for the war-ravaged country in February 2010 to help authorities ensure macroeconomic stability, advance structural reforms and temporarily support the budget.

The IMF has released two installments of the loan to Iraq, in October 2010 and March 2011, following the first and second reviews of the country's economic performance.

The current IMF loan to Iraq follows a loan of $746 million in 2005, which was extended in 2007 and replaced by another SBA that expired in March 2009.

In 2004, the IMF had given "post-conflict" aid to oil-rich Iraq after it lost a war against the United States and its allies.

The Iraqi economy is slowly recovering from the destruction caused by the international isolation of the regime of Saddam Hussein before the war, by the war itself and the violence that followed.

-AFP


https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nownews/imf_extends_iraq_loan_to_february

August 04, 2012 01:17 AM


WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund announced Friday an extension of a two-year loan window to Iraq by seven months to allow the authorities time to get policy measures on track under the program.

That means Iraq has extra time to borrow from the $1.96 billion in IMF financing that remains available.

The loan, initially for $3.6 billion, had been scheduled to expire on July 23 and will now expire on Feb. 23, 2013, the IMF said in a statement.

The IMF executive board approved the extension on July 20 following a request by the Iraqi authorities, the global lender said.

The IMF said the extension will provide the Iraqi authorities with more time to implement the policy measures needed to complete the fund’s combined third and fourth reviews under the so-called Stand-By Arrangement program.

“The extension will, in particular, provide time for discussions on fiscal policies for the remainder of 2012 and on measures to improve the functioning of the exchange regime,” it said.

The IMF approved the SBA for the war-torn country in February 2010 to help authorities ensure macroeconomic stability, advance structural reforms and temporarily support the budget.

The IMF has released two installments of the loan to Iraq, in October 2010 and March 2011, following the first and second reviews of the country’s economic performance.

The current IMF loan to Iraq follows a loan of $746 million in 2005, which was extended in 2007 and replaced by another SBA that expired in March 2009.

In 2004, the IMF had given “post-conflict” aid to oil-rich Iraq after it lost a war against the U.S. and its allies.

The Iraqi economy is slowly recovering from the destruction caused by the international isolation of the regime of Saddam Hussein before the war, by the war itself and the violence that followed.



Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Business/Middle-East/2012/Aug-04/183330-imf-extends-two-year-iraq-loan-package-by-seven-months.ashx#ixzz2LAvEjVp8
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

Posted on 01 October 2010. Tags: IMF

The IMF (International Monetary Fund) said on Friday that it was releasing $741m [890 billion Iraqi dinars] in financing to Iraq after the country made good progress in reconstructing its war-torn economy.
AFP reports that the loan is the second installment of a 24-month loan the IMF awarded to Iraq in February.
The IMF executive board completed its first review of Iraq’s progress under a program supported by the loan, bringing the total resources currently available to Iraq to about 1.204 billion dollars, the Washington-based institution said in a statement.
The two-year loan, called a ‘Stand-By Arrangement’, offers Iraq a total of $3.7 billion to help ensure macroeconomic stability, advance structural reforms, and temporarily support the budget.
“Iraq has continued to make good progress in rebuilding key economic institutions and maintaining macroeconomic stability, under very difficult circumstances,” IMF deputy managing director, Naoyuki Shinohara, said in the statement.
“The modernization of Iraq’s public financial management system encompasses further improvements in fiscal reporting and the budgetary process, and the adoption of a single treasury account,” he said.
The IMF loan to Iraq follows a loan of $746m in 2005, which was extended in 2007 and replaced by another arrangement that expired in March 2009.
In 2004, the IMF had given “post-conflict” aid to Iraq after it lost a war against the United States and its allies.
The Iraqi economy is slowly recovering from the destruction caused by the international isolation of the regime of Saddam Hussein before the war, by the war itself and the violence that followed.
Shinohara called on the government to step up the pace of fiscal and financial sector structural reforms and noted the government had achieved a surplus budget in the first half of 2010.
“The authorities have made commendable efforts to conclude debt agreements,” he added.



http://www.iraq-businessnews.com/2010/10/01/imf-releases-741m-loan-to-iraq/