The GAB

• Pages: 34

Page 34

The IMF's General Arrangements to Borrow (GAB) are lines of credit, available at market-related interest rates, from 11 industrial countries or their central banks (the United States, the Deutsche Bundesbank, Japan, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium, the Swedish Riksbank, and the Swiss National Bank). GAB credit lines total SDR 17 billion (about $23.6 billion), plus SDR 1.5 billion (about $2.1 billion) available under an associated agreement with Saudi Arabia. The credit lines are to be drawn upon when needed to finance exchange transactions between the IMF and GAB members "to forestall or cope with an impairment of the international monetary system." GAB credit lines may also be drawn upon for non-GAB member countries with IMF-supported adjustment programs and under certain conditions.

The GAB were established...