The International Monetary Fund may launch a new program to help address the global shortage of dollars, providing a backup to the Federal Reserve’s campaign to keep greenbacks flowing around the world economy.
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva is preparing to offer short-term dollar loans to countries that lack enough Treasuries to participate in a Fed program that enables foreign central banks to temporarily exchange U.S. debt for dollars.
The initiative has the support of the U.S. Treasury and may be launched within weeks, according to people familiar with the matter. The U.S. is the fund’s largest shareholder. The IMF next week is scheduled to hold virtual meetings of members at a time when more than 90 countries have already asked for its assistance in shielding their economies from the coronavirus and global recession.
“Our board is going to review a proposal in the next days on creating a short-term liquidity line that is exactly targeted to countries with strong fundamentals, strong macroeconomic fundamentals, that may be experiencing short-term liquidity constraints,” Georgieva said in an online briefing for reporters on Friday.
“We’re short of one instrument to provide short-term liquidity to countries that are basically strong but find themselves in a tight place,” she said, noting that Indonesia was among countries urging the IMF to look into additional ways to help with liquidity in emerging markets.
A spokesman for the IMF declined to comment, while a Treasury spokeswoman didn’t respond to a request for commen
