Washington, Sept 25: The International Monetary Fund will extend special loans to countries which may be affected by Y2K to help overcome their international liquidity problems relating to the computer bug. The idea is to reassure financial markets that there will be help for any countries that get hit by the bug and otherwise might not be able to make payments on their international debt, an IMF official told the Washington post."But it is hoped there won't be any need... "No one knows what damage the computer problem may cause," he added.
Under the programme, an oil-exporting country in which the computer glitch temporarily shuts down production, for instance, might request an IMF loan to smooth out the disruption of dollar earnings, the official said.
Current thinking in the IMF, said the post, is that the Y2K loans would be in addition to any other IMF help a country is getting. They would be short-term loans and would carry a premium charge.
Y2K is the computer glitch that some countries maysuffering the year 2000, for too many computers as programmed now cannot recognize the year 2000. They recognize only 1900. As a result, some computers may fail.
The World Bank has been helping many developing countries fix the problem. To date, the world bank has approved about 35 million dollars in grants, technical aid and financing for seminars aimed at addressing it, said Carlos Braga, manager of the bank's information for development programme.
In addition, the bank has cleared a total of about 100million dollars of Y2K-related loans to Malaysia, Argentina and Sri Lanka.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.