Eije fttosljingtmt post
Treasury Secretary G. William Miller last night urged Congress to approve funding for several international financial organizations, including the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, because it ÛÏis in our basic self-interest.Û</br></br>Treasury Secretary G. William Miller last night urged Congress to approve funding for several international financial organizations, including the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, because it ÛÏis in our basic self-interest.Û ÛÏThese institutions are the center-piece of our efforts to restore stability and growth to a troubled world economy, strengthening the foundations for broad political cooperation,Û Miller said in a speech to the Chicago Council of Foreign Relations. A text of the speech was releasedÛª here.</br></br>ÛÏIn hard times, such as we are experiencing iiow, there is always a temptation to retrench, to cut back on our ^bpport for international organiza-ÐÊjadns that seem to have no domestic constituency,Û he declared.</br></br>A congressional conference committee is expected to meet today to try to find a way out of an impasse over funds for the International Development Association, the part of the World Bank that lends to the poorest nations charging little or no interest.</br></br>The House of Representatives twice 1 has rejected an administration-backed bill that would authorize a $3.24 billion increase in U.S. commitments to IDA. However, only 27 percent of that amount would actually be paid out over an 8-to-10-year period, a high Treasury official noted. The remainder would be ÛÏcallable capitalÛ and be used only in the remote event of massive defaults on loans.