Press Release No. <a name="P16_75"></a>03/131

On July 31, 2003, Thailand completed an early repayment of its outstanding obligations to the International Monetary Fund under a Stand-By Arrangement (see Press Release No. 97/37).

Mr. Horst Köhler, the Managing Director of the IMF, commended the Thai authorities for Thailand's impressive progress and stated:

"Thailand's ability to repay the IMF ahead of schedule reflects a strong macroeconomic and balance of payments performance over the past few years. This success has been underpinned by a sound policy framework, for which the government and the Bank of Thailand should be congratulated."

The repayment made by Thailand on July 31 was SDR 68.75 million (about US$96 million). Total drawings under the SDR 2.9 billion (about US$4 billion) Stand-By Arrangement amounted to SDR 2.5 billion (about US$3.5 billion). Under the original schedule, the final repayment of outstanding loans from the IMF would have taken place in 2004.