Glossary

Definitions of terms used throughout CountryReports.

This glossary contains 1,144 terms used throughout CountryReports — political, economic, cultural, historical, and geographic terminology referenced in country profiles and articles. Terms are drawn from authoritative sources including the Library of Congress.

Bretton Woods System: A structure of fixed exchange rates developed at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference, which established the International Monetary Fund (q.v.) and the World Bank (q.v.). The Bretton Woods System was in effect until 1971.
IMF (International Monetary Fund): Established along with the World Bank (q.v.) in 1945, the IMF is a specialized agency affiliated with the United Nations that takes responsibility for stabilizing international exchange rates and payments. The main business of the IMF is the provision of loans to its members when they experience balance of payments difficulties. These loans often carry conditions that require substantial internal economic adjustments by the recipients.
Inter-Governmental Group on Indonesia (IGGI): An international group of lenders established in 1967 by the Netherlands to coordinate multilateral aid to Indonesia. The other members included the Asian Development Bank, International Monetary Fund (q.v.), United Nations Development Programme, World Bank (q.v.), Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United States. In March 1992, Indonesia announced that it was rejecting further IGGI aid as long as the Netherlands chaired the organization. IGGI was replaced by the Consultative Group on Indonesia (q.v.).
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD): Formal name for the World Bank Group (q.v.) which was conceived at the Bretton Woods Conference on July 22, 1944, and began operations in June 1946. Its primary purpose is to provide technical assistance and loans at market-related rates of interest to developing countries at more advanced stages of development.; Source: Library of Congress
International Development Association (IDA): See World Bank.
International Finance Corporation (IFC): See World Bank.
monetarists: Advocates of monetarism, an economic policy based on the control of a country’s money supply. Monetarists assume that the quantity of money in an economy determines its economic activity, particularly its rate of inflation. A rapid increase in the money supply creates rising prices, resulting in inflation. To curb inflationary pressures, governments need to reduce the supply of money and raise interest rates. Monetarists believe that conservative monetary policies, by controlling inflation, will increase export earnings and encourage foreign and domestic investments. Monetarists have generally sought support for their policies from the International Monetary Fund (q.v.), the World Bank Group (q.v.), and private enterprise, especially multinational corporations. The University of Chicago economist Milton Friedman is considered to be a leading monetarist.
Paris Club: The informal name for a consortium of Western creditor countries (Belgium, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States) that have made loans or have guaranteed export credits to developing nations and that meet in Paris to discuss borrowers’ ability to repay debts. Paris Club deliberations often result in the tendering of emergency loans to countries in economic difficulty or in the rescheduling of debts. Formed in October 1962, the organization has no formal or institutional existence. Its secretariat is run by the French treasury. It has a close relationship with the International Monetary Fund (q.v.), to which all of its members except Switzerland belong, as well as with the World Bank (q.v.) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The Paris Club is also known as the Group of Ten (G-10).; Source: Library of Congress
soft loan: A loan bearing either no rate of interest, or an interest rate below the true cost of the capital lent. The International Development Association, an affiliate of the International Bank for Reconstruction (see World Bank, q.v.), grants soft loans to developing countries for long-term capital projects.; Source: Library of Congress
structural adjustment loan: A program loan, often by the World Bank (q.v.), to effect a structural adjustment program to liberalize an economy. Programs involve maintaining a flexible exchange rate, lowering tariffs, removing quantitative restrictions on international trade, and relaxing price and other market controls.
World Bank: Name used to designate a group of four affiliated international institutions that provide advice on long-term finance and policy issues to developing countries: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA). The IBRD, established in 1945, has the primary purpose of providing loans to developing countries for productive projects. The IDA, a legally separate loan fund administered by the staff of the IBRD, was set up in 1960 to furnish credits to the poorest developing countries on much easier terms than those of conventional IBRD loans. The IFC, founded in 1956, supplements the activities of the IBRD through loans and assistance designed specifically to encourage the growth of productive private enterprises in less developed countries. The president and certain senior officers of the IBRD hold the same positions in the IFC. The MIGA, which began operating in June 1988, insures private foreign investment in developing countries against such non-commercial risks as expropriation, curl strife, and inconvertibility. The four institutions are owned by the governments of the countries that subscribe their capital. To participate in the World Bank group, member states must first belong to the IMF (q.v.).; Source: Library of Congress