April 22,2013

[rstreams]

DOES ANYONE REMEMBER THIS? ACCORDING TO THIS, TODAY SHOULD BE THE DAY! IT WAS POSTED ON MARCH,23 2013.

 

As you've been reading in the articles and hearing from the conference calls, the IMF just conducted its Article IV Consultation with Iraq, and Iraq passed. This is good news. To analyze just how good this information actually is and what it actually means, I have posted Article IV of the IMF's Articles of Agreement (which the IMF just said Iraq passed, and this was the last review related to the expired SBA). As you can see below, the entire Article IV of the IMF deals specifically with a country's exchange arrangements so currency is the whole subject of the review that Iraq just went through with the IMF for 10 days. It is also where Frank26 is getting his conclusion that, once the IMF has approved and voted, THE CHANGE IN VALUE HAS TO BE IMPLEMENTED WITHIN 30 DAYS. See Section 2(a) below. I've also attached Schedule C referenced in Article IV, which deals with the determination of a country's par value of their currency. I am not a currency expert but thought that I would put this information out there so that some of us with more expertise might be able to share their analysis and conclusions in this thread.

 

Article IV: Obligations Regarding Exchange Arrangements

 

Section 1.  General obligations of members

 

Recognizing that the essential purpose of the international monetary system is to provide a framework that facilitates the exchange of goods, services, and capital among countries, and that sustains sound economic growth, and that a principal objective is the continuing development of the orderly underlying conditions that are necessary for financial and economic stability, each member undertakes to collaborate with the Fund and other members to assure orderly exchange arrangements and to promote a stable system of exchange rates. In particular, each member shall:

• (i) endeavor to direct its economic and financial policies toward the objective of fostering orderly economic growth with reasonable price stability, with due regard to its circumstances;
• (ii) seek to promote stability by fostering orderly underlying economic and financial conditions and a monetary system that does not tend to produce erratic disruptions;
• (iii) avoid manipulating exchange rates or the international monetary system in order to prevent effective balance of payments adjustment or to gain an unfair competitive advantage over other members; and
• (iv) follow exchange policies compatible with the undertakings under this Section

Section 2.  General exchange arrangements

• (a) Each member shall notify the Fund, within thirty days after the date of the second amendment of this Agreement, of the exchange arrangements it intends to apply in fulfillment of its obligations under Section 1 of this Article, and shall notify the Fund promptly of any changes in its exchange arrangements.
• (b) Under an international monetary system of the kind prevailing on January 1, 1976, exchange arrangements may include (i) the maintenance by a member of a value for its currency in terms of the special drawing right or another denominator, other than gold, selected by the member, or (ii) cooperative arrangements by which members maintain the value of their currencies in relation to the value of the currency or currencies of other members, or (iii) other exchange arrangements of a member’s choice.
• (c) To accord with the development of the international monetary system, the Fund, by an eighty-five percent majority of the total voting power, may make provision for general exchange arrangements without limiting the right of members to have exchange arrangements of their choice consistent with the purposes of the Fund and the obligations under Section 1 of this Article.

Section 3.  Surveillance over exchange arrangements

• (a) The Fund shall oversee the international monetary system in order to ensure its effective operation, and shall oversee the compliance of each member with its obligations under Section 1 of this Article.
• (b) In order to fulfill its functions under (a) above, the Fund shall exercise firm surveillance over the exchange rate policies of members, and shall adopt specific principles for the guidance of all members with respect to those policies. Each member shall provide the Fund with the information necessary for such surveillance, and, when requested by the Fund, shall consult with it on the member’s exchange rate policies. The principles adopted by the Fund shall be consistent with cooperative arrangements by which members maintain the value of their currencies in relation to the value of the currency or currencies of other members, as well as with other exchange arrangements of a member’s choice consistent with the purposes of the Fund and Section 1 of this Article. These principles shall respect the domestic social and political policies of members, and in applying these principles the Fund shall pay due regard to the circumstances of members.

Section 4.  Par values

The Fund may determine, by an eighty-five percent majority of the total voting power, that international economic conditions permit the introduction of a widespread system of exchange arrangements based on stable but adjustable par values. The Fund shall make the determination on the basis of the underlying stability of the world economy, and for this purpose shall take into account price movements and rates of expansion in the economies of members. The determination shall be made in light of the evolution of the international monetary system, with particular reference to sources of liquidity, and, in order to ensure the effective operation of a system of par values, to arrangements under which both members in surplus and members in deficit in their balances of payments take prompt, effective, and symmetrical action to achieve adjustment, as well as to arrangements for intervention and the treatment of imbalances. Upon making such determination, the Fund shall notify members that the provisions of Schedule C apply.

Section 5.  Separate currencies within a member’s territories

• (a) Action by a member with respect to its currency under this Article shall be deemed to apply to the separate currencies of all territories in respect of which the member has accepted this Agreement under Article XXXI, Section 2 (g) unless the member declares that its action relates either to the metropolitan currency alone, or only to one or more specified separate currencies, or to the metropolitan currency and one or more specified separate currencies.
• (b) Action by the Fund under this Article shall be deemed to relate to all currencies of a member referred to in (a) above unless the Fund declares otherwise.

****** Schedule C: Par Values

• 1. The Fund shall notify members that par values may be established for the purposes of this Agreement, in accordance with Article IV, Sections 1, 3, 4, and 5 and this Schedule, in terms of the special drawing right, or in terms of such other common denominator as is prescribed by the Fund. The common denominator shall not be gold or a currency.
• 2. A member that intends to establish a par value for its currency shall propose a par value to the Fund within a reasonable time after notice is given under 1 above.
• 3. Any member that does not intend to establish a par value for its currency under 1 above shall consult with the Fund and ensure that its exchange arrangements are consistent with the purposes of the Fund and are adequate to fulfill its obligations under Article IV, Section 1.
• 4. The Fund shall concur in or object to a proposed par value within a reasonable period after receipt of the proposal. A proposed par value shall not take effect for the purposes of this Agreement if the Fund objects to it, and the member shall be subject to 3 above. The Fund shall not object because of the domestic social or political policies of the member proposing the par value.
• 5. Each member that has a par value for its currency undertakes to apply appropriate measures consistent with this Agreement in order to ensure that the maximum and the minimum rates for spot exchange transactions taking place within its territories between its currency and the currencies of other members maintaining par values shall not differ from parity by more than four and one-half percent or by such other margin or margins as the Fund may adopt by an eighty-five percent majority of the total voting power.
• 6. A member shall not propose a change in the par value of its currency except to correct, or prevent the emergence of, a fundamental disequilibrium. A change may be made only on the proposal of the member and only after consultation with the Fund.
• 7. When a change is proposed, the Fund shall concur in or object to the proposed par value within a reasonable period after receipt of the proposal. The Fund shall concur if it is satisfied that the change is necessary to correct, or prevent the emergence of, a fundamental disequilibrium. The Fund shall not object because of the domestic social or political policies of the member proposing the change. A proposed change in par value shall not take effect for the purposes of this Agreement if the Fund objects to it. If a member changes the par value of its currency despite the objection of the Fund, the member shall be subject to Article XXVI, Section 2. Maintenance of an unrealistic par value by a member shall be discouraged by the Fund.
• 8. The par value of a member’s currency established under this Agreement shall cease to exist for the purposes of this Agreement if the member informs the Fund that it intends to terminate the par value. The Fund may object to the termination of a par value by a decision taken by an eighty-five percent majority of the total voting power. If a member terminates a par value for its currency despite the objection of the Fund, the member shall be subject to Article XXVI, Section 2. A par value established under this Agreement shall cease to exist for the purposes of this Agreement if the member terminates the par value despite the objection of the Fund, or if the Fund finds that the member does not maintain rates for a substantial volume of exchange transactions in accordance with 5 above, provided that the Fund may not make such finding unless it has consulted the member and given it sixty days notice of the Fund’s intention to consider whether to make a finding.
• 9. If the par value of the currency of a member has ceased to exist under 8 above, the member shall consult with the Fund and ensure that its exchange arrangements are consistent with the purposes of the Fund and are adequate to fulfill its obligations under Article IV, Section 1.
• 10. A member for whose currency the par value has ceased to exist under 8 above may, at any time, propose a new par value for its currency.
• 11. Notwithstanding 6 above, the Fund, by a seventy percent majority of the total voting power, may make uniform proportionate changes in all par values if the special drawing right is the common denominator and the changes will not affect the value of the special drawing right. The par value of a member’s currency shall, however, not be changed under this provision if, within seven days after the Fund’s action, the member informs the Fund that it does not wish the par value of its currency to be changed by such action.

Read more: http://dinarvets.com/forums/index.php?/topic/144463-imf-article-iv-currency-exchange-arrangements/#ixzz2OP8Bs8gO

 

 

 

[dontlop]

i think that was the third Article IV Consultation with Iraq since 2003

id like to see an imf update on the stand by agreement . i think most of them have come out 3 or 4 months after the stand by arrangements ended .. this last one ended feb 23rd . so im looking to june for an update

[skeetdog]

Thanks for the post...I'm tryin' to get up to speed on this matter. I'm not the reply your lookin' for, but this deserves notice....we can both hide and watch...a plus for ya