The International Monetary Fund (IMF) plans to propose the future Stand-by cooperation program to the government of Azerbaijan. The program envisions support of the macro-economic stability, the IMF Baku office head Basel Zavoyko told journalists. According to him, IMF is going to raise the issue during the IMF mission visit to Baku in April 2006.
The cost of the program will not be large, but the issue is to be discussed. Unlike the previous programs the arrangement will be reached with the government on this one for the loan resources to be used only in emergency cases. One of such cases may be the sharp drop of the oil prices and in this regard if the funds are needed for covering the budget deficit. The loan funds will be reserved for Azerbaijan, respectively, if they are not used, the interests on them will not be paid by the country, the office head said.
В"It is a new form of cooperation between IMF and the government, therefore the negotiation process will be dragged out. I think, the talks will be accomplished during this year, Zavoyko noted.
The country prefers to cooperate with IMF based on the general program, envisioning only the consulting assistance and without the loan commitments, the government told Trend. Besides, there is a reserve account at the Finance Ministry in case of falling down the oil prices, and respectively, there is no need for implementing such small IMF programs costing $10-20 million.