Corrigan: U.S. Should Help with IMF Recap

Goldman, Sachs & Co. managing director E. Gerald Corrigan told lawmakers Monday that the U.S. should help recapitalize the International Monetary Fund.

At a House Banking Committee hearing, Mr. Corrigan testified that providing new funds to the IMF would be "unambiguously in the interest of the United States." He said that if the fund had not been helping Korea and Thailand during their economic crises in 1997, both countries "would have run out of money," causing problems here and abroad.

But the former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York agreed with critics that a top-to-bottom review of the IMF's role in the international economy is needed. Mr. Corrigan said such a review could be part of a compromise under which Congress approved additional funding for the IMF.

The Clinton administration has asked Congress for $18 billion to recapitalize the IMF, as the Senate did in August. Last week the House Appropriations Committee voted to provide $3.5 billion.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER