International Monetary Fund Reform and Authorization Act of 1998

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Title I: International Monetary Fund

Title II: New Arrangements to Borrow

Title III: Policy Provisions

Title IV: Reports

International Monetary Fund Reform and Authorization Act of 1998 - Title I: International Monetary Fund - Amends the Bretton Woods Agreement Act to authorize the U.S. Governor of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to consent, subject to appropriations, to a specified increase in the U.S. IMF quota of Special Drawing Rights.

Makes this title effective only if the Secretary of the Treasury certifies to certain congressional committees that the investors and banks make a significant contribution in conjunction with a financing package that, in the context of an international financial crisis, might include taxpayer supported official financing.

Title II: New Arrangements to Borrow - Sets forth conforming amendments for Federal participation in new arrangements to borrow, whose effect is subject to the same condition as title I.

Title III: Policy Provisions - Amends the International Financial Institutions Act to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the U.S. Executive Director of the IMF to promote vigorously specified policies, including: (1) structuring programs and assistance so as to promote policies and actions that will contribute to exchange rate stability and avoid competitive devaluations; (2) promoting market-oriented reform, trade liberalization, economic growth, democratic governance, and social stability through certain measures; (3) strengthening financial systems in developing countries, and encouraging the adoption of sound banking principles and practices; (4) facilitating the development and implementation of internationally acceptable domestic bankruptcy laws in developing countries; (5) promoting policies that aim at appropriate burden-sharing by the private sector so that investors and creditors bear more fully the consequences of their decisions; (6) fostering structural reforms, including procurement reform, that reduce opportunities for corruption and bribery, and drug-related money laundering; (7) designing IMF programs and assistance so that governments channel public funds away from unproductive purposes, including large showcase projects and excessive military spending, and toward investment in human and physical capital; (8) promoting adoption and enforcement of laws promoting respect for internationally recognized worker rights; (9) discouraging practices which may promote ethnic or social strife in a recipient country; (10) promoting IMF recognition that macroeconomic developments and policies can affect and be affected by environmental conditions and policies; (11) facilitating greater IMF transparency and accountability; (12) promoting structural reforms which facilitate credit to small businesses, including microenterprise lending, especially in the world's poorest, heavily indebted countries; (13) promoting measures to protect the rights and land of indigenous peoples; and (14) structuring IMF debt relief programs to increase the amount of debt relief available to poor countries, without imposing unfair conditions on heavily indebted poor countries.

Directs the Secretary to establish an IMF Advisory Committee, with members from organized labor, banking and financial services, industry and agriculture, and nongovernmental environmental and human rights organizations, to advise the Secretary on the extent to which individual country IMF programs meet the policy goals set out in this Act.

(Sec. 302) Mandates public disclosure by the Secretary within seven days of receipt of letters of intent submitted by a country as a prerequisite to IMF assistance.

(Sec. 303) Instructs the Secretary to certify to certain congressional committees that the U.S. Executive Director of the IMF will oppose further fund disbursements to Indonesia unless its government complies with the terms of its IMF reform package.

(Sec. 304) Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the Government of Indonesia should immediately release Muchtar Pakpahan from prison and dismiss all criminal charges against him; and (2) Japan should assume a greater regional leadership role, coinciding with its goal of promoting strong domestic demand-led growth and avoiding a significant increase in its external surplus with the United States and the countries of the Asia-Pacific region.

Title IV: Reports - Instructs the Secretary to submit status reports to certain congressional committees regarding progress made toward: (1) implementing IMF-led financial stabilization programs in countries to which the United States has made a financial commitment to provide financing from the exchange stabilization fund; and (2) achieving specified objectives to strengthen safeguards in the global financial system, including measures to promote more efficient functions of global markets. Requires such a report also on progress the U.S. Executive Director of the IMF has made in influencing the IMF to adopt specified policies and reforms of its internal procedures.

(Sec. 404) Directs the Secretary to certify to certain congressional committees that the Secretary has instructed the U.S. Executive Director of the IMF to facilitate timely access by the General Accounting Office (GAO) to IMF information and documents needed by GAO to perform financial reviews of the IMF that will facilitate the conduct of U.S. policy with respect to it. Instructs the Comptroller General to report annually to such congressional committees on IMF financial operations.