São Paulo – The managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, sat down with Iraq and Yemen leaders in New York City on the sidelines of the 71st United Nations General Assembly. <\/p>\n
Lagarde and the Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi focused on the deteriorating humanitarian and economic conditions due to ongoing conflicts in the Gulf country. Government supporters and houthi rebels are at war in Yemen.<\/p>\n
Increasing basic services to the population, preserving the operational capacity of the central bank system and increasing financial stability are chief concerns, according to information released by the IMF. <\/p>\n
Iraq <\/strong><\/p>\n Lagarde and the Iraqi prime minister Haider Al-Abadi met on Wednesday (21) and discussed how the USD 5.34 billion worth of loans made available by the IMF last July can be spent by Iraq.<\/p>\n The country is carrying out economic reforms to improve the business environment and create jobs. As part of that effort, it has entered into a stand-by arrangement (SBA) with the IMF, whereby credit is made available to countries in crisis that can nonetheless honor their payments in the medium-to-long term.<\/p>\n “The managing director and the prime minister exchanged views on how the SBA can help Iraq address the shocks posed by violent attacks and the drop in global oil prices,” an IMF press release said. Iraq depends on oil export revenues, but the oil price slump and terrorist and rebel attacks on production units have taken a toll on national output.<\/p>\n *Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum<\/strong><\/p>\n