In: International organization, Volume 4, Issue 3, p. 491-492
ISSN: 1531-5088
A new exchange office was established in March by the International Monetary Fund to keep track of all new exchange restrictions imposed by member countries and to record changes in currency regulations. The office had no policing powers but was to remain in constant touch with officials in all member countries and to maintain files for consultation by bankers, foreign traders and others interested in foreign currency regulations.
In: International organization, Volume 1, Issue 2, p. 358-358
ISSN: 1531-5088
On December 18, 1946, the International Monetary Fund announced the initial par values of the currencies of its members and stated that exchange transactions through the Fund would commence March 1, 1947. Eight of the member states — Brazil, China, Dominican Republic, Greece, Poland, Yugoslavia, France in respect of French Indo-China, and the Netherlands in respect of the Netherlands East Indies — requested and received from the Fund additional time for the determination of initial par values; the establishment of the par value for Uruguay's currency was postponed, pending the completion of certain legislative steps in that country.
In: International organization, Volume 16, Issue 1, p. 230-231
ISSN: 1531-5088
On October 2, 1961, it was announced that the International Monetary Fund had entered into a stand-by arrangement with the government of Haiti under which that government could draw the equivalent of $6 million from the Fund during the following twelve months. The arrangement with the Fund was considered as a useful supplement to the country's reserves to assist the government in maintaining the convertibility of its currency. The Haitian government had not drawn on its previous stand-by arrangement with the Fund, which had expired on September 30, 1961; in earlier years it had drawn $5.4 million, of which $2.6 million had already been repaid.
In: International organization, Volume 17, Issue 4, p. 976-977
ISSN: 1531-5088
During the period March 22, 1963–June 12, 1963, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) made agreements with the governments of five countries establishing the initial par values of their currencies. The agreements were as follows: 1) one Liberian dollar per United States dollar; 2) 0.347543 Nigerian pounds per United States dollar; 3) one Somali shilling equivalent to 0.14 United States dollars; and 4) 45 Afghanistan afghanis per United States dollar.
In: International organization, Volume 13, Issue 3, p. 470-471
ISSN: 1531-5088
On February 20, 1959, Denmark announced the repurchase from the International Monetary Fund of $17 million which, together with repurchases made in March and June 1958, exceeded by $8.5 million the $34 million purchased by Denmark from the Fund in July 1957. The excess was applied to reducing the Fund's holdings of kroner to 75 percent of quota. On March 19, the United Kingdom made a repurchase of $200 million, in line with its announced intention to repurchase its outstanding balance monthly through 1960 and 1961, or more expeditiously if possible.
In: International organization, Volume 4, Issue 2, p. 322-323
ISSN: 1531-5088
During the month of November 1949 the International Monetary Fund sold $22.5 million to Brazil, and the government of Costa Rica repurchased $1.25 million. The Fund concurred in a change proposed by the United Kingdom government in the par value of the British Honduras dollar effective December 31, 1949. In terms of gold and in terms of the United States dollar of the weight and fineness in effect on July 1, 1944, the parities for the British Honduras dollar were: 0.622 grams of fine gold per British Honduras dollar and 1.429 British Honduras dollars per United States dollar.
In: International organization, Volume 3, Issue 2, p. 349-350
ISSN: 1531-5088
During November 1948 four sales of currency were made by the International Monetary Fund in response to requests for United States dollars by India, Norway, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. India purchased $8,060,000 for rupees. Exchanges of $500,000 each for Costa Rican colones and Nicaraguan cordobas were the Fund's initial transactions in those two Central American currencies. Norway sold 175,051.080 fine ounces of gold to the Fund in exchange for United States dollars at the official price of $35 per fine ounce. This gold was equivalent to $6,126,787.80, since the price paid by the Fund took into account certain expenses involved in the transaction. Thus, at the end of the month the Fund held $1,409,503,763.38 in gold.
In: International organization, Volume 17, Issue 1, p. 281-282
ISSN: 1531-5088
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) entered into a stand-by arrangement with the government of Haiti authorizing drawings up to the amount of $6 million over the next twelve months in currencies held by the Fund. The stabilization efforts of the Haitian government in recent years, conducted with Fund support, had contributed to the maintenance of internal and external financial stability. However, unusual difficulty had been encountered during the fiscal year just closing, when government revenues fell short of amounts anticipated, the inflow of foreign aid dwindled, and Haiti's international reserve position deteriorated. Haitian authorities had taken steps to strengthen the country's public finances. The Fund had granted annual stand-by arrangements to Haiti since 1958; the country's net drawings amounted to $3.75 million.
In: International organization, Volume 15, Issue 1, p. 194-195
ISSN: 1531-5088
Two stand-by arrangements were announced by the International Monetary Fund on September 23, 1960, one with the government of El Salvador, authorizing drawings up to the equivalent of $11.25 million for a period of six months in order to strengthen El Salvador's international reserve position prior to the marketing season for the country's cotton and coffee crops, and the other to Haiti, making available the equivalent of $6 million for a one-year period, in support of Haitian currency convertibility. El Salvador had made similar arrangements with the Fund in previous years and had repurchased in full any drawings made under these arrangements. The arrangement with Haiti was to become effective on October 1, 1960, at the expiration of Haiti's current $4-million agreement with the Fund established a year previously in connection with a stabilization program.
In: International organization, Volume 9, Issue 2, p. 277-278
ISSN: 1531-5088
On December 24, 1954, Colombia purchased $25 million from the International Monetary Fund with Colombian pesos. The purchase, Colombia's first transaction with the Fund, was equivalent to 50 percent of Colombia's quota, and required a waiver under Article V, section 4, of the Fund's Articles of Agreement. Colombia under took the purchase with the understanding that its pesos would be repurchased from the Fund within a period of three of five years. The drawing was designed to meet payments difficulties of a temporary nature that had resulted in the development of commercial arrears, particularly with the United States; the difficulties were attributed to a sharp decline in the price of coffee and a slackening of demand for it, beginning about the middle of August 1954.
In: International organization, Volume 14, Issue 1, p. 210-211
ISSN: 1531-5088
On September 16, 1959, the International Monetary Fund announced that 40 members, including most recently Bolivia, Ethiopia, Honduras, Libya, Malaya, and Peru, had consented to increases in their Fund's quotas by amounts ranging from 50 to 100 percent. This was in response to a recommendation by the Directors of the Fund arising out of the thirteenth annual meeting of the Governors of the Fund, held in New Delhi in October 1958. The Fund extended to July 31, 1960, the period within which the rest of its 68-nation membership might accept increases in its quotas. Some of these countries had already communicated consents to the Fund which would become effective upon the completion of certain formalities. The Fund's assets, which, as of January 31, 1959, amounted to the equivalent of $9.2 billion, would be enlarged by the recommended increases by the equivalent of $5.8 billion.
In: International organization, Volume 14, Issue 4, p. 668-669
ISSN: 1531-5088
On June 7, 1960, it was announced that the government of Guatemala had entered into a one-year stand-by arrangement with the International Monetary Fund authorizing drawings up to $15 million in support of the country's currency. The purpose of the arrangement was to help Guatemala maintain the traditional stability of the quetzal by providing a second line of reserves to supplement other stabilization measures, such as an increase of reserve requirements against bank deposits, limitations on central bank rediscounts, and a further reduction of government expenditures. Guatemala, with a quota of $15 million, had not previously drawn upon the Fund's resources.
In: International organization, Volume 12, Issue 2, p. 223-224
ISSN: 1531-5088
The twelfth annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund was held jointly with the Board of Governors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Washington D.C., September 23–26, 1957, under the chairmanship of Miguel Cuaderno, Sr. Per Jacobsson, Managing Director, reviewed the activities of the Fund during the previous year. Emphasizing that the Fund's assistance was of a short-term nature and designed to enable countries to adopt and carry out, within a limited period of time, programs to restore stability to their economies, Mr. Jacobsson stated that the Fund was being used to help countries meet emergency needs, ease strain in the balance of payments, meet temporary exchange difficulties, and fulfill stabilization programs. Mr. Jacobsson went on to discuss various problems encountered in connection with the Fund's activities and cited, inter alia, multiple currency practices, Fund liquidity, and, in connection with general aspects of the world economy, inflation, relative values of currencies, and financing for underdeveloped countries.
In: International organization, Volume 12, Issue 4, p. 542-543
ISSN: 1531-5088
The Ninth Annual Report on Exchange Restrictions of the International Monetary Fund, covering the period from May 1957 to April 1958, was transmitted to members and governors of the Fund on May 5, 1958.1 The Report noted that the period under review had showed mixed trends. While there had been relatively little overall progress in the formal relaxation of restrictions, there had been a significant strengthening of most internationally traded currencies, particularly in the opening months of 1958. There had been a marked improvement in the rates at which transferable currencies could be exchanged for convertible currencies in free markets, as well as an improvement in other rates against the dollar, particularly for the currencies of western Europe. The rates in these free markets had begun to approximate the rates in official markets. In this respect, there had been continued progress toward external convertibility.
In: International organization, Volume 10, Issue 3, p. 483-483
ISSN: 1531-5088
The International Monetary Fund approved a proposal by the government of Chile to make certain fundamental changes in that country's exchange system, effective April 16, 1956. According to a press release the new exchange system replaced a complex structure of multiple rates and import licensing regulations, and established an exchange market in which the rate for commercial imports and exports, government transactions and some invisible transactions would be responsive to supply and demand forces. There would continue to be a second exchange market for other invisible transactions. At the same time the Fund entered into a one year stand-by credit agreement which enabled Chile to purchase up to $35 million in currencies held by the Fund. In addition, other Chilean arrangements provided for credits of $30 million from private banks in the United States and an exchange agreement with the United States Treasury in the amount of $10 million. These resources were intended to assist the Chilean authorities in their administration of an exchange reform, accompanied by a comprehensive program of fiscal and monetary measures directed toward economic stability. The Fund stated that it intended to remain in close touch with the Chilean authorities regarding the new exchange system.