VENEZUELA’S CURRENCY IS IN ‘FREE FALL

Just in November, the bolivar has lost 55% of its value.

It’s the latest sign of Venezuela’s extreme economic, political and humanitarian crisis. Sky high food prices — or massive shortages of basic food and medicine — have plagued Venezuelans for years and have gotten worse this year. Inflation in Venezuela is expected to rise 1,660% next year, according to the IMF. The country has been in recession for three years now.

One dollar fetched 1,567 bolivars on November 1. On November 28, a dollar was worth 3,480 bolivars on the widely-used unofficial exchange rate monitored by Dolartoday.com.

http://www.infowars.com/venezuelas-currency-is-in-free-fall/

CHINA JITTERS COULD TRIGGER GLOBAL MARKET BLOODBATH, IMF WARNS

The IMF said policy choices in the world’s second largest economy would also have “increasing implications for global financial stability” in the coming years as the country opens up its bond and equity markets.

The fund said emerging market economies such as China, India, Brazil and Russia had driven more than half of global growth over the past 15 years.

Stronger trade ties and financial linkages meant spillovers from these countries had become “the norm, not the exception”, increasing the risk that future shocks could send powerful reverberations around the globe.

http://www.infowars.com/china-jitters-could-trigger-global-market-bloodbath-imf-warns/

IMF ready to add yuan to reserve currency basket

China has made several steps to make its currency meet the SDR criterion of being “freely usable”. Last Friday, the People’s Bank of China decreased interest rates for the sixth time this year – 4.35 percent from 4.6 percent. At the same time the one-year deposit rate was cut to 1.5 percent from 1.75 percent.

The US and Japan that have been the main obstacle to the yuan being included to the basket, are unlikely to thwart the deal, Eswar Prasad, a professor at Cornell University and former head of the IMF’s China Division told Reuters.

https://www.rt.com/business/319678-imf-yuan-reserve-currency/

IMF ready to add yuan to reserve currency basket https://t.co/eV7s4nNBV8 pic.twitter.com/MAllUqb3AI

— RT (@RT_com) October 27, 2015

BRICS gets greater say in IMF

China will have the third largest IMF quota and voting share after the United States with 16.74 percent and Japan with 6.23 percent.

IMF chief Christine Lagarde on Wednesday commended members“for ratifying these truly historic reforms.”

“These reforms will ensure that the Fund is able to better meet and represent the needs of its members in a rapidly changing global environment. Today marks a crucial step forward and it is not the end of change as our efforts to strengthen the IMF’s governance will continue,” she said.

https://www.rt.com/business/330438-imf-quota-brics-russia-china/

#BRICS gets greater say in #IMF https://t.co/3DWSG12oUY pic.twitter.com/VxohFymTRe

— RT (@RT_com) January 28, 2016

China welcomes IMF backing to make yuan world reserve currency

 Now the world’s second-largest economy, China asked last year for the yuan to be added to the elite basket of SDR currencies, but until recently it was considered too tightly controlled to qualify.

It now looks likely the yuan will be formally admitted to the IMF’s “special drawing rights” currency basket at the end of the month, which would mark a milestone in China’s efforts to become a global economic power.

http://news.yahoo.com/imf-experts-recommend-inclusion-chinese-yuan-elite-currency-010527771.html

CHINA WELCOMES IMF BACKING TO MAKE YUAN WORLD RESERVE CURRENCY

 Now the world’s second-largest economy, China asked last year for the yuan to be added to the elite basket of SDR currencies, but until recently it was considered too tightly controlled to qualify.

http://www.infowars.com/china-welcomes-imf-backing-to-make-yuan-world-reserve-currency/

IMF says Iceland repays its remaining $332 million in debt ahead of schedule

The International Monetary Fund says Iceland has repaid all of its remaining obligations — ahead of schedule — as the island nation presses on with its recovery following its economic collapse seven years ago.

The IMF said Friday that Iceland repaid $332 million, ending the rescue program that began in the 2008 financial crisis when the overly-leveraged economy collapsed under the strain of a worldwide credit squeeze.

http://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2015/10/09/imf-says-iceland-has-repaid-its-remaining-debt

IMF PREDICTS SAUDI ARABIA BANKRUPT BY 2020

 The reason for Saudi Arabia’s reluctance to balance its budget is that the 15,000 members of the six branches of the Saudi royal family buy national support through massive social welfare spending that requires a crude oil price of $103 a barrel to balance their budget.

The vast majority of the 30 million residents enjoy their standard of living due to government handouts. Saudi citizens tend to lack employable skills and are culturally not inclined to work. Of the 5.5 million that do have jobs, 3 million work directly for the government. The small private sector tends only to employ foreigners.

Although other Middle East nations are engaged in “active consolidation measures,” such as lower investment, hiring freezes, or energy price reform, Saudi Arabia’s government stated that they will make no austerity “tax increases and spending cuts.”

The IMF points out that “Large fiscal spending packages were announced in January and April,” as new King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud distributed $32 billion to the people to celebrate his coronation. As a result, the IMF predicts the kingdom will suffer a negative 21.6 percent “General Government Overall Fiscal Balance” in 2015 and a 19.4 percent negative balance in 2016.

http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/10/22/imf-predicts-saudi-arabia-bankrupt-2020/

IMF PREDICTS SAUDI ARABIA BANKRUPT BY 2020

 Each October, the International Monetary Exchange issues its World Economic and Financial Regional Surveys. For the first time since the 1960s, the region set to suffer the worst financial agony over the next five years is the Middle East. Ground Zero for that pain is Saudi Arabia.

The reason for Saudi Arabia’s reluctance to balance its budget is that the 15,000 members of the six branches of the Saudi royal family buy national support through massive social welfare spending that requires a crude oil price of $103 a barrel to balance their budget.

http://www.infowars.com/imf-predicts-saudi-arabia-bankrupt-by-2020/

IMF chief pleased with economic progress in Ukraine as decision looms on $1.7 billion loan

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde has told Ukraine’s president that she was impressed with the progress his government has made toward stabilizing the Ukrainian economy.

Lagarde was in Kiev before a visit by an IMF mission to assess whether Ukraine has met the necessary conditions to receive the third installment of a four-year $17.5 billion loan.

http://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2015/09/06/imf-chief-pleased-with-economic-progress-in-ukraine