In a press briefing at their Washington headquarters yesterday, the International Monetary Fund’s Thomas Dawson, director of the External Relations Department, commented on the current status of the agreement with the Dominican authorities. Dawson said the IMF management had recommended they proceed with a first review of the accord. “The revised program is designed to address the deviations from the program that did emerge soon after the initial approval of the stand-by arrangement. And the revised program seeks to strengthen the fiscal program, providing more stable monetary involvement, work toward ensuring a foreign exchange market free of administrative interference, strengthening the situation in the electricity sector where we’re working with our sister institutions, as well as continue the process of banking reform.” He continued by saying that “in recent weeks, significant progress has been made in implementing this agenda. Congress approved the 2004 budget. That does strengthen public finances. Monetary policy has been set to ease pressures on the currency and reverse the trend of rising inflation. Steps also have been taken to unify the exchange market and ensure that it operates free of the interference I referred to. And at the same time, the authorities have been in touch with the Paris Club.” This last is a reference to recent reports that the IMF and the Dominican government have been engaged in efforts to reschedule the country’s debt. For the full transcript of the press conference, go to:
www.imf.org/external/np/tr/2004/tr040128.htm