The International Monetary Fund on Friday unveiled a set of measures to overhaul its lending mechanism, shifting the fund's role to precautionary short-term lending to prevent crises.
The package is apparently in response to global criticism, especially from the United States, a country with the biggest voting power in the body, of the IMF's handling of the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
The measures, approved by the IMF's 24-member executive board, will be further discussed at a series of international financial meetings starting in the Czech capital, Prague, this week.
The centerpiece of the package is making the IMF's never-used contingent credit line (CCL), a precautionary short-term lending mechanism, easier to use by reducing the cost of borrowing and eliminating the commitment fee, IMF officials said.