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| A natural disaster, such as a flood, earthquake, hurricane, or drought, can strain a country's financial resources, and this in turn, can create a financial crisis as well. Money is needed to help finance a country's recovery. Since the early 1960s, the IMF has been available to lend money under its Emergency Assistance Program. A country uses its own currency to "purchase" reserve assets from the IMF, and the loan is repaid when a country "repurchases" its own currency with international assets. The composition of the IMF's assets changes after a loan, but its total resources do not. In the case of a natural disaster, a member country can borrow up to 25% of its quota, and under special circumstance the country can borrow up to 50%. The repurchase of the loan must be made in 3 1/4 to 5 years. Visit the following Web site of the IMF: "IMF Emergency Assistance: Supporting Recovery from Natural Disasters and Armed Conflicts, A Factsheet" at http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/conflict.htm. Locate Table 1, "Emergency Assistance Related to Natural Disasters, Since 1995." There have been numerous times when the IMF has provided assistance. Which countries received emergency assistance following a natural disaster between 1995 and 2005? What was the year? What were the circumstances? What was the size of the loan? What was the percentage of the quota that was borrowed? What is the total sum of these loans?  |