|
U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 262o-2. Advocacy of policies to enhance general effectiveness of International Monetary Fund
(a) In general
The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States
Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund to use
aggressively the voice and vote of the Executive Director to do the
following:
(1) Vigorously promote policies to increase the effectiveness
of the International Monetary Fund in structuring programs and
assistance so as to promote policies and actions that will
contribute to exchange rate stability and avoid competitive
devaluations that will further destabilize the international
financial and trading systems.
(2) Vigorously promote policies to increase the effectiveness
of the International Monetary Fund in promoting market-oriented
reform, trade liberalization, economic growth, democratic
governance, and social stability through -
(A) establishing an independent monetary authority, with full
power to conduct monetary policy, that provides for a
non-inflationary domestic currency that is fully convertible in
foreign exchange markets;
(B) opening domestic markets to fair and open internal
competition among domestic enterprises by eliminating
inappropriate favoritism for small or large businesses,
eliminating elite monopolies, creating and effectively
implementing anti-trust and anti-monopoly laws to protect free
competition, and establishing fair and accessible legal
procedures for dispute settlement among domestic enterprises;
(C) privatizing industry in a fair and equitable manner that
provides economic opportunities to a broad spectrum of the
population, eliminating government and elite monopolies,
closing loss-making enterprises, and reducing government
control over the factors of production;
(D) economic deregulation by eliminating inefficient and
overly burdensome regulations and strengthening the legal
framework supporting private contract and intellectual property
rights;
(E) establishing or strengthening key elements of a social
safety net to cushion the effects on workers of unemployment
and dislocation; and
(F) encouraging the opening of markets for agricultural
commodities and products by requiring recipient countries to
make efforts to reduce trade barriers.
(3) Vigorously promote policies to increase the effectiveness
of the International Monetary Fund, in concert with appropriate
international authorities and other international financial
institutions (as defined in section 262r(c)(2) of this title), in
strengthening financial systems in developing countries, and
encouraging the adoption of sound banking principles and
practices, including the development of laws and regulations that
will help to ensure that domestic financial institutions meet
strong standards regarding capital reserves, regulatory
oversight, and transparency.
(4) Vigorously promote policies to increase the effectiveness
of the International Monetary Fund, in concert with appropriate
international authorities and other international financial
institutions (as defined in section 262r(c)(2) of this title), in
facilitating the development and implementation of
internationally acceptable domestic bankruptcy laws and
regulations in developing countries, including the provision of
technical assistance as appropriate.
(5) Vigorously promote policies that aim at appropriate
burden-sharing by the private sector so that investors and
creditors bear more fully the consequences of their decisions,
and accordingly advocate policies which include -
(A) strengthening crisis prevention and early warning signals
through improved and more effective surveillance of the
national economic policies and financial market development of
countries (including monitoring of the structure and volume of
capital flows to identify problematic imbalances in the inflow
of short and medium term investment capital, potentially
destabilizing inflows of offshore lending and foreign
investment, or problems with the maturity profiles of capital
to provide warnings of imminent economic instability), and
fuller disclosure of such information to market participants;
(B) accelerating work on strengthening financial systems in
emerging market economies so as to reduce the risk of financial
crises;
(C) consideration of provisions in debt contracts that would
foster dialogue and consultation between a sovereign debtor and
its private creditors, and among those creditors;
(D) consideration of extending the scope of the International
Monetary Fund's policy on lending to members in arrears and of
other policies so as to foster the dialogue and consultation
referred to in subparagraph (C);
(E) intensified consideration of mechanisms to facilitate
orderly workout mechanisms for countries experiencing debt or
liquidity crises;
(F) consideration of establishing ad hoc or formal linkages
between the provision of official financing to countries
experiencing a financial crisis and the willingness of market
participants to meaningfully participate in any stabilization
effort led by the International Monetary Fund;
(G) using the International Monetary Fund to facilitate
discussions between debtors and private creditors to help
ensure that financial difficulties are resolved without
inappropriate resort to public resources; and
(H) the International Monetary Fund accompanying the
provision of funding to countries experiencing a financial
crisis resulting from imprudent borrowing with efforts to
achieve a significant contribution by the private creditors,
investors, and banks which had extended such credits.
(6) Vigorously promote policies that would make the
International Monetary Fund a more effective mechanism, in
concert with appropriate international authorities and other
international financial institutions (as defined in section
262r(c)(2) of this title), for promoting good governance
principles within recipient countries by fostering structural
reforms, including procurement reform, that reduce opportunities
for corruption and bribery, and drug-related money laundering.
(7) Vigorously promote the design of International Monetary
Fund programs and assistance so that governments that draw on the
International Monetary Fund channel public funds away from
unproductive purposes, including large "show case" projects and
excessive military spending, and toward investment in human and
physical capital as well as social programs to protect the
neediest and promote social equity.
(8) Work with the International Monetary Fund to foster
economic prescriptions that are appropriate to the individual
economic circumstances of each recipient country, recognizing
that inappropriate stabilization programs may only serve to
further destabilize the economy and create unnecessary economic,
social, and political dislocation.
(9) Structure International Monetary Fund programs and
assistance so that the maintenance and improvement of core labor
standards are routinely incorporated as an integral goal in the
policy dialogue with recipient countries, so that -
(A) recipient governments commit to affording workers the
right to exercise internationally recognized core worker
rights, including the right of free association and collective
bargaining through unions of their own choosing;
(B) measures designed to facilitate labor market flexibility
are consistent with such core worker rights; and
(C) the staff of the International Monetary Fund surveys the
labor market policies and practices of recipient countries and
recommends policy initiatives that will help to ensure the
maintenance or improvement of core labor standards.
(10) Vigorously promote International Monetary Fund programs
and assistance that are structured to the maximum extent feasible
to discourage practices which may promote ethnic or social strife
in a recipient country.
(11) Vigorously promote recognition by the International
Monetary Fund that macroeconomic developments and policies can
affect and be affected by environmental conditions and policies,
and urge the International Monetary Fund to encourage member
countries to pursue macroeconomic stability while promoting
environmental protection.
(12) Facilitate greater International Monetary Fund
transparency, including by enhancing accessibility of the
International Monetary Fund and its staff, fostering a more open
release policy toward working papers, past evaluations, and other
International Monetary Fund documents, seeking to publish all
Letters of Intent to the International Monetary Fund and Policy
Framework Papers, and establishing a more open release policy
regarding Article IV consultations.
(13) Facilitate greater International Monetary Fund
accountability and enhance International Monetary Fund
self-evaluation by vigorously promoting review of the
effectiveness of the Office of Internal Audit and Inspection and
the Executive Board's external evaluation pilot program and, if
necessary, the establishment of an operations evaluation
department modeled on the experience of the International Bank
for Reconstruction and Development, guided by such key principles
as usefulness, credibility, transparency, and independence.
(14) Vigorously promote coordination with the International
Bank for Reconstruction and Development and other international
financial institutions (as defined in section 262r(c)(2) of this
title) in promoting structural reforms which facilitate the
provision of credit to small businesses, including
microenterprise lending, especially in the world's poorest,
heavily indebted countries.
(b) Coordination with other executive departments
To the extent that it would assist in achieving the goals
described in subsection (a) of this section, the Secretary of the
Treasury shall pursue the goals in coordination with the Secretary
of State, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Commerce, the
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the
Administrator of the Agency for International Development, and the
United States Trade Representative.
|
|