Hong Kong, 24 September 1997 (RFE/RL) - Bosnia took its appeal for an IMF loan to the governors of the global financial institution today. It said that without continuing international assistance, the country's devastated economy and housing will never recover and its debts will never be repaid.
The appeal was made by Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Hasan Muratovic in an address to the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Hong Kong today. He said without a new flexibility by the fund so that Bosnia can qualify for a $100 million loan, "all the positive results that the international community has achieved for the reconstruction of Bosnia could be jeopardized."
Muratovic told our economics correspondent earlier today that he will ask IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus to waive the loan's precondition that the Muslims and Serbs agree on the design of a new currency. He said he'll ask Camdessus to make that a condition on one of the tranches, or drawings, from the loan instead.
In his speech, Muratovic also urged the bank to create an anti-corruption monitoring unit in Republika Srpska like the one it now has in Bosnia.