“I have asked staff to look into all the possibilities and am pleased to announce that we are able to make US$100 million available very quickly. We are coordinating with other international agencies to mobilize assistance as quickly as possible in order to help Haiti with the difficult task ahead of rebuilding the country,” Mr. Strauss-Kahn said. “On behalf of everyone at the IMF, I offer my deepest sympathy to the victims of this tragedy.”

The emergency financing would be provided as an augmentation to the existing IMF-supported arrangement with Haiti under the Extended Credit Facility (formerly the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility). The US$100 million in new funding is subject to approval by the IMF Executive Board, which could consider the augmentation under accelerated procedures.

Since 2006, the IMF has disbursed close to US$170 million under its PRGF-supported arrangement. The program was approved in November 2006 in an amount equivalent to about US$114.4 million; in June 2008, an augmentation of about US$25.4 million was approved to help Haiti cope with the impact of high international food and fuel prices. A second increase in IMF financial assistance, of about US$38.1 million was approved by the Executive Board in February 2009 to help mitigate the negative effects of a series of hurricanes in 2008, as well as the global downturn.

Haiti received US$1.2 billion in debt relief in June 2009, as it reached the completion point under the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative approved by the Executive Boards of the IMF and the World Bank.