§262o–2 — Title 22 Foreign Relations and Intercourse | U.S. Code

Summary

Require the Treasury Secretary to tell the U.S. Executive Director at the IMF to use U.S. influence to push the IMF to work better. The IMF must be urged to help keep exchange rates stable and avoid competitive devaluations. It must promote market-style economic reforms that include six key ideas: an independent central bank and stable currency, fair competition and anti-monopoly rules, broad and fair privatization, fewer harmful regulations plus stronger contract and property rights, basic social safety nets for displaced workers, and more open markets for farm goods. The IMF should also work with other international bodies to strengthen banks and financial rules, build workable bankruptcy laws, and encourage private investors and creditors to share more of the risks. That includes better early-warning monitoring, stronger financial systems, steps to allow creditor-debtor talks and orderly debt workouts, and linking official aid to meaningful private-sector participation. Push the IMF to promote good governance, fight corruption and drug money laundering, steer public money away from wasteful projects and excessive military spending toward education, health, and infrastructure, and tailor its programs to each country’s situation. Make labor rights a regular part of IMF advice, discourage policies that could fuel ethnic or social conflict, and recognize links between macroeconomic policy and the environment. Increase IMF openness by publishing more reports and letters, improve its self-review and outside evaluation, coordinate with the World Bank and others to expand small-business credit, and strengthen global anti-money-laundering and counterterrorist-financing work. The Treasury should coordinate these goals with the State, Labor, Commerce, EPA, USAID, and U.S. Trade Representative.

Title 22, §262o–2

Foreign Relations and Intercourse — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)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.

(15)Work with the International Monetary Fund to—

(A)foster strong global anti-money laundering (AML) and combat the financing of terrorism (CFT) regimes;

(B)ensure that country performance under the Financial Action Task Force anti-money laundering and counterterrorist financing standards is effectively and comprehensively monitored;

(C)ensure note is taken of AML and CFT issues in Article IV reports, International Monetary Fund programs, and other regular reviews of country progress;

(D)ensure that effective AML and CFT regimes are considered to be indispensable elements of sound financial systems; and

(E)emphasize the importance of sound AML and CFT regimes to global growth and development.

(b)To the extent that it would assist in achieving the goals described in subsection (a), 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.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2004—Subsec. (a)(15). Pub. L. 108–458 added par. (15).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Annual Report on Lending, Surveillance, or Technical Assistance Policies of the International Monetary Fund Pub. L. 114–113, div. K, title IX, § 9006, Dec. 18, 2015, 129 Stat. 2832, provided that: “Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act [Dec. 18, 2015], and annually thereafter until 2025, the Secretary of the Treasury shall submit to the Committees on Appropriations and Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committees on Appropriations and Financial Services of the House of Representatives a written report that includes— “(1) a description of any changes in the policies of the International Monetary Fund (the Fund) with respect to lending, surveillance, or technical assistance; “(2) an analysis of whether those changes, if any, increase or decrease the risk to United States financial commitments to the Fund; “(3) an analysis of any new or ongoing exceptional access loans of the Fund in place during the year preceding the submission of the report; and “(4) a description of any changes to the exceptional access policies of the Fund.” Additional Provisions Relating to International Monetary Fund Pub. L. 106–113, div. B, § 1000(a)(5) [title V, § 504], Nov. 29, 1999, 113 Stat. 1536, 1501A–317, as amended by Pub. L. 110–161, div. H, title I, § 1502(a), Dec. 26, 2007, 121 Stat. 2250, provided that: “(a) Publication of IMF Operational Budgets.—The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States to urge vigorously the International Monetary Fund to publish the operational budgets of the International Monetary Fund, on a quarterly basis, not later than one year after the end of the period covered by the budget. “(b) Report to the Congress Showing Costs of United States Participation in the International Monetary Fund.—The Secretary of the Treasury shall prepare and transmit to the Committees on Banking and Financial Services [now Committee on Financial Services], on Appropriations, and on International Relations [now Committee on Foreign Affairs] of the House of Representatives and the Committees on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, on Foreign Relations, and on Appropriations of the Senate a quarterly report, which shall be made readily available to the public, on the costs or benefits of United States participation in the International Monetary Fund and which shall detail the costs and benefits to the United States, as well as valuation gains or losses on the United States reserve position in the International Monetary Fund. “(c) Continuation of Forgoing of Reimbursement of IMF for Expenses of Administering ESAF.—The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States to urge vigorously the International Monetary Fund to continue to forgo reimbursements of the expenses incurred by the International Monetary Fund in administering the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility, until the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (as defined in section 1623 of the International Financial Institutions Act [22 U.S.C. 262p–6]) is terminated. “(d) No Gold Sales by International Monetary Fund Without Prior Authorization by the Congress.—(1) [Amended section 286c of this title.] “(2) Not less than 30 days prior to the entrance by the United States into international negotiations for the purpose of reaching agreement on the disposition of Fund gold whereby resources of the Fund would be used for the special benefit of a single member, or of a particular segment of the membership of the Fund, the Secretary of the Treasury shall consult with the Committees on Banking and Financial Services [now Committee on Financial Services], on Appropriations, and on International Relations [now Committee on Foreign Affairs] of the House of Representatives and the Committees on Foreign Relations, on Appropriations, and on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs of the Senate.” Definitions The definitions in section 262p–5 of this title apply to this section.

§262o–2 Advocacy of policies to enhance general effectiveness of International Monetary Fund