Monday, April 2, 2012

IMF Bailout of Greece


Here's a "blast from the past" as this was written in early May, 2010:

No, it is not a higher percentage than first discussed.

At first, it was discussed that the Eurozone would lend 30 billion Euros and IMF 15 billion Euros (i.e. 33% of the total) for 2010 only.

At the end, we have 80 billion contributed by Eurozone and 30 billion by the IMF for a 3-year period. This is 30 in a total of 110, i.e. 27% of the total amount getting lent by the IMF.

Since the US have an 18% IMF quota (much lower than their 24% share of the global GDP), the US will end up contributing (via the IMF), around 4.9% of the total amount, i.e. around 5.4 bil Euro. This is significantly lower than the German and French contributions and lower even than the Italian and Spanish ones. It exceeds by not a wide margin the Dutch and Belgian contributions.

Also, the IMF is a sort of insurance fund (or blood bank). The US may need it some time in the future too, who knows? What was once the British Empire ended up resorting to the IMF in 1976... As Aesop wrote, the mouse may help the lion some day - no-one is too big to end up asking for help, or too small not to be able to provide some.

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