22 USC 286cc - Sustaining economic growth

U.S Code last checked for updates: Nov 22, 2024

§ 286cc.

Sustaining economic growth

(a)

Economic adjustment programs

(1)

The President shall instruct the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of State, and other appropriate Federal officials, and shall request the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, to use all appropriate means to encourage countries to formulate economic adjustment programs to deal with their balance of payment difficulties and external debt owed to private banks.

(2)

Such economic adjustment programs should be designed to safeguard, to the maximum extent feasible, international economic growth, world trade, employment, and the long-term solvency of banks, and to minimize the likelihood of civil disturbances in countries needing economic adjustment programs.

(b)

Changes in Fund guidelines; limitations on debt service exceptions

To ensure the effectiveness of economic adjustment programs supported by Fund resources—

(1)

the United States Executive Director of the Fund shall recommend and shall work for changes in Fund guidelines, policies, and decisions which would—

(A)

convert short-term bank debt which was made at high interest rates into long-term debt at lower rates of interest;

(B)

assure that the annual external debt service, which shall include principal, interest, points, fees, and other charges required of the country involved, is a manageable and prudent percentage of the projected annual export earnings of such country; and

(C)

provide that in approving any economic adjustment program the Fund shall take into account the number of countries applying to the Fund for economic adjustment programs and the aggregate effects that such programs will have on international economic growth, world trade, exports and employment of other member countries, and the long-term solvency of banks; and

(2)

except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, the United States Executive Director of the Fund shall oppose and vote against providing assistance from the Fund for any economic adjustment program for a country in which the annual external debt service exceeds 85 per centum of the annual export earnings of such country, unless the Secretary of the Treasury first determines and provides written documentation to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs of the House of Representatives that—

(A)

the economic adjustment program converts high interest rate, short-term bank debt into long-term debt at significantly narrower interest rate spreads than the average interest rate spreads prevailing on bank debt reschedulings negotiated between August 1982 and August 1983 for countries receiving assistance from the Fund for economic adjustment programs in order to minimize the burdens of adjustment on the debtor nation, provided that such interest rate spreads are consistent with that nation’s need to obtain adequate external private financing;

(B)

the annual external debt service required of the country involved is a manageable and prudent percentage of the projected annual export earnings of such country; and

(C)

the economic adjustment program will not have an adverse impact on international economic growth, world trade, exports, and employment of other member countries, and the long-term solvency of banks.

(c)

Emergencies and extraordinary circumstances

The provisions of subsection (b)(2) shall not apply in any case in which the Secretary of the Treasury first determines and provides written documentation to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs of the House of Representatives that—

(1)

an emergency exists in a nation that has applied to the Fund for assistance that requires an immediate short-term loan to avoid disrupting orderly financial markets;

(2)

a sudden decrease in export earnings in the country applying to the Fund for assistance has increased the ratio of annual external debt service to annual export earnings, to greater than 85 per centum for a period projected to be no more than one year; or

(3)

other extraordinary circumstances exist which warrant waiving the provisions of subsection (b)(2).

(July 31, 1945, ch. 339, § 45, as added Pub. L. 98–181, title I [title VIII, § 806], Nov. 30, 1983, 97 Stat. 1272.)

cite as: 22 USC 286cc