International Monetary Fund

Part of Oral Answers to Questions — National Finance – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 4 May 1989.

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Photo of Mr Nigel Lawson Mr Nigel Lawson The Chancellor of the Exchequer 12:00, 4 May 1989

Yes, my hon. Friend is right. There is really no case—no objective case, no logical case—for a substantial increase in IMF quotas. The International Monetary Fund is fully able with its existing resources to continue to do what it is necessary for it to do and I pay tribute to the work that it does do in order to pursue the debt strategy. But it is wrong to talk soley, or even mainly, in terms nowadays of the IMF because the overwhelming problem that is being addressed at the present time is the problem of the big debts run up by Latin-American countries, which are overwhelmingly debts owed to commercial banks in the private sector. This is a matter which the commercial banks have got to sort out with the countries to whom they have lent the money and they are going to have to accept that the amount of debt has got to be reduced and they have got to make themselves responsible for that debt reduction.