International Banks and Funds - Реферат

International Banks and Funds International banks and funds include a variety of institutions operating in many parts of the world whose purpose is to aid member nations financing economic development and to provide balance of payments assistance. Today, international banks play a particularly important role in the development of many countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The most important is the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), usually called the World Bank. The World Bank, like the International Monetary Fund, was established at the Bretton Woods conference in July 1944. The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) The Inter-American Development Bank was founded in 1959 by the United States and the 20 Latin American countries. Its principal purposes are to support Latin American economic development, to serve as an instrument for economic cooperation among the member countries, and to provide technical assistance in preparing and carrying out economic development plans. Since 1959 four regional and 17 non-regional countries (Canada, Israel, Japan, and 14 European countries) have become members. The bank’s headquarters are in Washington, D.C. The bank was established with two completely separate resources: its ordinary capital resources and its Fund for Special Operations. The ordinary capital resources are for projects that pay for themselves within a reasonable period of time. Such loans are repayable in the currency in which the loan was made. The Fund for Special Operations, which is administered separately, finances projects that are unlikely to produce quick returns. The repayment of these loans may be made partly or entirely in the borrower’s currency. In addition, the IADB administers the $500 million Social Progress Trust Fund, established by the U.S. government in the early 1960?s under the Alliance for Progress, and the $500 million Venezuelan Trust Fund, set up in 1975. The initial authorized capital of the regular loan department of the IADB was $850 million; that of the Fund for Special Operations was $150 million. As of 1979 the authorized ordinary capital resources had reached more than $9.6 billion, while those of the fund amounted to about $5.9 billion. Following the example of the World Bank, only a part of the authorized capital stock must be subscribed in gold and dollars. A portion of this gold and dollar subscription is paid in; the remainder is on call. Of the more than $9.6 billion authorized for regular loans in 1979, more than $1.1 billion was paid in. Only one half of this amount was paid in gold or U.S. dollars; the remainder was in the member’s own currency. The $8.5 billion not paid in was callable to meet IADB liabilities on bonds or other securities that it might issue. The U.S. subscription is extensive; as of the end of 1979 the United States had contributed 35 percent of the capital stock of the bank and 62 percent of the capital for the Fund for Special Operations. M The Asian Development Bank (ADB).