News Brief No. 97/29

News Brief: IMF Executive Board Completes Review of Thailand Program

December 8, 1997

Michel Camdessus, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said the IMF’s Executive Board today reviewed the progress Thailand has made in implementing its economic program. As a result of completing this review, SDR 600 million (about US$810 million) will be available to Thailand under the SDR 2.9 billion (about US$3.9 billion) stand-by credit approved on August 20, 1997 (see Press Release No. 97/37). The IMF has already made available SDR 1.2 billion (about US$1.6 billion) under the 34-month stand-by credit.

Mr. Camdessus said, "The Thai authorities have made solid progress over the past several weeks in implementing the IMF-supported economic program more forcefully, especially in the key area of restructuring Thailand’s financial sector. Executive Directors strongly welcomed the decision announced today by the Financial Restructuring Agency on the finance companies, as well as the transparent manner in which the decision was reached, and commended the authorities for tightening the financial program in order to help stabilize market conditions."