EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by authority of the Treasurer
International Monetary Agreements Amendment Act (No.1) 2001
Proclamation
Subsection 2(2) of the International Monetary Agreements Amendment Act (No. 1) 2001 (the Act) provides that Schedule 1 to the Act commences on a day to be fixed by Proclamation.
Subsection 2(3) provides that if Schedule 1 does not commence within six months from the day the Fourth Amendment of the Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) enters into force, then that Schedule commences on the first day after the end of that six month period.
The Act received the Royal Assent on 2 March 2001 and the IMF was notified of Australia’s acceptance of the Fourth Amendment by an instrument signed on 20 June 2001.
The Fourth Amendment provides for a special one-time allocation of 21.5 billion Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) and was approved by the IMF Board of Governors in September 1997. It was designed to allow members to participate equitably in the SDR system. One SDR currently equals around US$1.50.
The purpose of the proposed Proclamation is to fix 9 September 2009 as the day Schedule 1 to the Act commences. This is equivalent to 30 days after the effective date of the Fourth Amendment, and the same date that the Fund will disburse the special one-time allocation.
Entry into force of the Fourth Amendment required acceptance by three-fifths of IMF members having 85 per cent of total voting power. This requirement was achieved when the United States (which holds 16.73 per cent of total voting power) formally notified its acceptance. The Fourth Amendment entered into force on 10 August 2009.
The proposed Proclamation would be a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.