Washington, DC, Apr. 5 (UPI) -- U.S. Congress and President Bush will stop the International Monetary Fund from selling its gold, the chairman of the Joint Economic Committee said.
The IMF is considering gold sales as a way of covering bad loans it has made to impoverished borrowers now unable or unwilling to repay, but Congressional approval would be required.
JEC Chairman Rep. Jim Saxton, R-N.J., said he favors IMF debt relief through write-offs financed out of the IMF's other resources.
"The potential profits on IMF gold sales rightfully belong to the original donor countries and their taxpayers," he said. "These IMF gold sales would amount to a hidden appropriation from the donor countries that were the original source of the gold."
Saxton said the IMF failed to implement the proper lending safeguards and accounting controls for making such loans.
"Not surprisingly, some of its loans have gone bad, and the consequences should not be papered over," he said. "The IMF's mistaken forays into development lending have proven counterproductive, and should not be repeated."
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