§ Mr. Arnoldasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects the next meeting of the International Monetary Fund interim committee to take place.
§ Mr. RidleyThe next meeting of the interim committee is scheduled for April 1983. The issues to be discussed are complex and the interests of many members are involved. Nevertheless, if there were a prospect of an earlier meeting, it might be possible to bring forward the date.
§ Mr. Arnoldasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the rules of the International Monetary Fund permit loans made by the fund to be conditional upon further loans being made available from other sources.
§ Mr. Bruce-Gardyne[pursuant to his reply, 20 December 1982, c. 312]: The fund's rules provide—selected decisions, page 21, a copy of which I have placed in the Library of the House—that the managing director will recommend that the executive board approves a member's request for a loan when it is his judgment that the programme is consistent with the fund's provisions and policies and that it will be carried out. The amount of a fund loan is limited to a certain multiple of the member's quota, depending on the particular type of loan requested. Where the managing director believes that the member's ability to carry out a particular programme is dependent upon the supply of further loans over and above what the fund itself makes available, he does not recommend the programme until he judges that the member is likely to be able to attract such further financing from other sources.