International Monetary Fund readies $150 billion SDR-denominated note program

By Aaron Hochman-Zimmerman

New York, July 1 - The International Monetary Fund (Aaa/AAA/AAA) took another step towards issuing paper in its own currency.

The fund's executive board approved the issuance and the first sale will likely be made as soon as one of the interested parties concludes its purchase agreement with the lender.

Brazil, Russia, India and China have all expressed interest in the new debt.

China has said it will purchase as much as $50 billion in bonds while its BRIC counterparts have considered purchases of $10 billion each.

The five-year bonds which will be denominated in Special Drawing Rights. The currency is a basket of the dollar, euro, yen and pound.

The bonds will pay interest at a weighted average of three-month interest rates in these currencies.

Trading may take place within the "official sector," a statement said, which includes member state central banks and 15 multilateral institutions.

"This innovative framework will further strengthen the IMF's capacity to bring rapid assistance to its members as and when it is needed," managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in the statement.

The International Monetary Fund is a Washington D.C.-based development lender.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.