[Excerpt: Critics of the group say poor countries are unable to escape crushing debt burdens and are unable to invest in education, health and other programmes to curb poverty...Selling IMF gold reserves to finance debt relief is strongly favoured by Britain, the G7's current chairman, but the United States has previously expressed reservations about the approach...Saxton said the US Congress "has an obligation to protect the taxpayers and reject any proposed IMF gold sales".]
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D11A3DEF-0AED-470A-A28F-CC52C141290A.htm US to block IMF gold sale Wednesday 06 April 2005, 3:19 Makka Time, 0:19 GMT IMF gold reserves are worth $45 billion at current prices The movement to sell a portion of IMF gold reserves to finance debt relief for poor nations has hit a roadblock after a key US lawmaker said Congress and the Bush administration will block any such move. Jim Saxton, chairman of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, said on Tuesday the potential profits on IMF gold sales "rightfully belong to the original donor countries and their taxpayers". "Thus, these IMF gold sales would amount to a hidden appropriation from the donor countries that were the original source of the gold." Saxton, who said he supported other means for debt relief, said congressional approval would be required for any IMF gold sale. The movement to sell some part of IMF gold reserves, long backed by activists for debt relief, has gathered momentum recently. Debt relief In London in February, finance ministers of the Group of Seven industrialised nations asked the IMF to draft a proposal on gold sales for debt relief to be presented at the spring meetings of the Fund and the World Bank in mid-April in Washington. Global finance officials have been searching for a way to cut the estimated $80 billion owed by the poorest nations to multilateral institutions such as the IMF and World Bank. Critics of the group say poor countries are unable to escape crushing debt burdens and are unable to invest in education, health and other programmes to curb poverty. Selling IMF gold reserves to finance debt relief is strongly favoured by Britain, the G7's current chairman, but the United States has previously expressed reservations about the approach. Saxton said the US Congress "has an obligation to protect the taxpayers and reject any proposed IMF gold sales". Gold reserves He added that the Bush administration "has taken the right position in opposing the IMF on this matter, and deserves congressional support. There are better ways of financing debt relief than drilling the taxpayers yet again". The statement from Saxton added that for nearly its entire history, the IMF "failed to have lending safeguards and accounting controls in place. Not surprisingly, some of its loans have gone bad, and the consequences should not be papered over". An IMF spokesman declined to comment on Saxton's remarks. But IMF managing director Rodrigo Rato said last month that some of the IMF's undervalued gold could be sold on the open market as part of a debt relief plan. IMF figures show the international organisation has 103.4 million ounces of gold. The IMF values the gold at a low level of $9 billion, for historical reasons. At current market prices the gold would be worth $45 billion. AFP enditem ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/_OLuKD/8WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
