IMF Approves $436 Million in Aid for Iraq

[Barrett808]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund's board of government shareholders on Wednesday approved $436 million in assistance to Iraq, its first ever loan to the country, a fund official said.

The approval comes after Iraq's interim government late last week cleared $81 million in debt it owed the Washington-based fund.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040929/wl_nm/economy_imf_iraq_dc

[Media_Lies_Daily]

1. This represents .005% of the $87+ billion we've ALREADY poured....

...into that financial black hole. The IMF money should be gone long before it gets to Iraq.

[JNelson6563]

2. Selling Iraq's soul now complete

Ugh.

[AlCzervik]

3. How much of that money will go directly to Allawi

Chalabi and the other exiles?

[daleo]

4. It isn't clear what the second sentence means

"The approval comes after Iraq's interim government late last week cleared $81 million in debt it owed the Washington-based fund."

Was the debt written off, or accepted as legitimate by the new government? I can't believe the IMF would write off this amount, so I am guessing the latter.

[hatrack]

5. Oh goody! Now Iraq can join the other prosperous IMF clients!

You know, those emerging tigers like Argentina, the Phillipines, Ghana, Uganda, Armenia, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Haiti, Guinea-Bissau and the Solomon Islands.