Typical street scene in Santa Ana, El Salvador. (Photo: iStock)
April 21, 2009
Colombia became the third country to seek access to a new IMF credit line for strong performing countries, requesting $10.4 billion to bolster its economy in the face of the global recession.
City center of Bogota, Colombia, which has sustained record of sound economic policies, strong economic fundamentals, IMF says (iStockphoto/J. Koch)
FLEXIBLE CREDIT LINE
Finance minister Óscar Iván Zuluaga and central bank governor José Darío Uribe announced that Colombia is interested in a one-year precautionary arrangement under the IMF’s Flexible Credit Line (FCL). A credit line of $10.4 billion would represent 900 percent of Colombia’s IMF quota.
The IMF recently approved a precautionary credit line of $47 billion for Mexico and is also scheduled to discuss a request by Poland for $20.5 billion.
Sustained record
“I am very pleased by this positive response to the invitation I extended to strongly performing economies to use this new instrument to bolster international confidence on the strength and sustainability of their policy framework,” said IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
“Colombia has a sustained record of sound economic policies, and has very strong economic fundamentals and institutional and policy frameworks. The Colombian authorities’ have responded appropriately to the global financial crisis, and have demonstrated a commitment to maintaining this solid record. I therefore intend to move ahead rapidly in seeking approval by the Fund's Executive Board of Colombia's request for an FCL arrangement,” Strauss-Kahn stated.
The FCL is an instrument established in March that is available to Fund member countries deemed to possess very strong fundamentals, policies, and track records of policy implementation (see press release). Access to an FCL arrangement is based on the requesting country having met these criteria, rather than on fulfilling ex-post performance criteria.
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