Approval for Fourth Revision of IMF Agreement Announced

Approval for Fourth Revision of IMF Agreement Announced
Santo Domingo, 12/24/2010

Governor of the Central Bank, Héctor Valdez Albizu, reported that on December 17 the Board of Directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) favorably approved the Letter of Intent submitted by the Dominican authorities corresponding to the fourth revision of the Stand-by Agreement that has been under consideration between the DR and the IMF since November 9, 2009.

With this approval, the country will receive an immediate disbursement of 109 billion pesos in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) which is equivalent to around US$168 million dollars from the IMF.

As such, he pointed to the prudent management of the country’s fiscal and monetary policies that have allowed the country to get through one of the largest international financial crises in history, making reactivation of  productive policies possible in an atmosphere of low inflation and relative currency stability.

With this approval, the country will receive an immediate disbursement of 109 billion pesos in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) which is equivalent to around US$168 million dollars from the IMF. Likewise, the IMF will contribute to the distribution of pending IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) and World Bank disbursements earmarked for the budget before the end of the year.

In addition, the Bank Governor said that with IMF disbursements expected for this month, December, the Dominican Republic will have received a total of 347.3 billion pesos in SDRs which is equivalent to some US $536.8 million dollars.

Valdez Albizu added that another 547.3 million pesos are pending in the  agreement, an estimated US $840 million dollars, and is expected to be received between January 2011 and February 2012.

Finally, he pledged that resources received will be used to contribute to the maintenance of the country’s macro-economic stability as well as to the currency exchange rate.