IMF team in talks with Vietnam over possible lending
HANOI - A delegation of senior International Monetary Fund officials is currently in Vietnam holding talks with
the government over possible renewed lending, an IMF official in Hanoi told Dow Jones Newswires Monday.
She said the delegation is led by Chapen Puckahtikom, assistant director of the IMF's Asia Pacific Department. Further details
weren't provided.
The IMF, which funds government reform programs around the world, cut lending to Vietnam in 1996, midway through a
three-year program it begun in 1995. It said Hanoi wasn't carrying out the structural changes IMF cash was designed to fund.
However, signs that Vietnam's leadership is now serious about reform provided impetus for the new talks. Last year, the
government launched a stock market, signed a market-opening trade agreement with the U.S. and allowed greater private
enterprise.
The IMF's Senior Resident Representative in Vietnam, Dennis De Tray, told Dow Jones Newswires late last year that he
hoped to conclude talks this month or in February. At the time, he said Vietnam's "financing gap" for its planned structural
reform program was between $1.2 billion and $1.5 billion, and the IMF was likely to provide several hundred million dollars to
help close that gap.
De Tray is meeting with Vietnam's leadership Monday and was unavailable for comment on the progress of the talks.
According to the IMF official in Hanoi, talks - which have been ongoing for several days - could end as soon as Monday
afternoon.
However, an official at Vietnam's central bank said Monday morning that meetings between various government ministries and
the IMF were scheduled for Monday and Tuesday. He said a comprehensive agreement between the two sides could be made
after those meetings.
Dow Jones Newswires - January 15, 2001.
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