International Monetary Fund

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International Monetary Fund
IMF member states in green
IMF member states in green
Headquarters Washington, D.C., USA
Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Central Bank of
Currency Special Drawing Rights
ISO 4217 Code XDR
Base borrowing rate 3.49% for SDRs[1]
Website www.imf.org

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international organization that oversees the global financial system by following the macroeconomic policies of its member countries, in particular those with an impact on exchange rates and the balance of payments. It also offers financial and technical assistance to its members, making it an international lender of last resort. Its headquarters are located in Washington, D.C., USA.

Contents

[edit] Organization and purpose

Headquarters in Washington D.C.
Headquarters in Washington D.C.

The International Monetary Fund was created in 1944[1], with a goal to stabilize exchange rates and supervise the reconstruction of the world's international payment system. Countries contributed to a pool which could be borrowed from, on a temporary basis, by countries with payment imbalances. (Condon, 2007)

The IMF describes itself as "an organization of 185 countries (Montenegro being the 185th, as of January 18, 2007), working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty". With the exception of North Korea, Cuba, Andorra, Monaco, Liechtenstein, Tuvalu, and Nauru, all UN member states participate directly in the IMF. Most are represented by other member states on a 24-member Executive Board but all member countries belong to the IMF's Board of Governors.[2]

[edit] History

The International Monetary Fund was formally created in July 1944 during the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference. The representatives of 45 governments met in the Mount Washington Hotel in the area of Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States of America, with the delegates to the conference agreeing on a framework for international economic cooperation.[3] The IMF was formally organized on December 27, 1945, when the first 29 countries signed its Articles of Agreement. The statutory purposes of the IMF today are the same as when they were formulated in 1944 (see #Assistance and reforms).

[edit] Today

From the end of World War II until the late-1970s, the capitalist world experienced unprecedented growth in real incomes. (Since then, the integration of China and Eastern and Central Europe into the capitalist system has added substantially to the growth of the system.) Within the capitalist system, the benefits of growth have not flowed equally to all (either within or among nations) but overall there has been an increase in prosperity that contrasts starkly with the conditions within capitalist countries during the interwar period. The lack of a recurring global depression is probably due to improvements in the conduct of international economic policies that have encouraged the growth of international trade and helped smooth the economic cycle of boom and bust.

In the decades since World War II, apart from rising prosperity, the world economy and monetary system have undergone other major changes that have increased the importance and relevance of the purposes served by the IMF, but that has also required the IMF to adapt and reform. Rapid advances in technology and communications have contributed to the increasing international integration of markets and to closer linkages among national economies. As a result, financial crises, when they erupt, now tend to spread more rapidly among countries.

The IMF's influence in the global economy steadily increased as it accumulated more members. The number of IMF member countries has more than quadrupled from the 44 states involved in its establishment, reflecting in particular the attainment of political independence by many developing countries and more recently the collapse of the Soviet bloc. The expansion of the IMF's membership, together with the changes in the world economy, have required the IMF to adapt in a variety of ways to continue serving its purposes effectively.

The International Monetary Fund's executive board approved a broad financial overhaul plan that could lead to the eventual sale of a little over 400 tons of its substantial gold supplies. IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn welcomed the board's decision April 7, 2008 to propose a new framework for the fund, designed to close a projected $400 million budget deficit over the next few years. The budget proposal includes sharp spending cuts of $100 million until 2011 that will include up to 380 staff dismissals.[2]

[edit] Data Dissemination Systems

IMF Data Dissemination Systems participants:      IMF member using SDDS      IMF member, using GDDS      IMF member, not using any of the DDSystems      non-IMF entity using SDDS      non-IMF entity using GDDS      no interaction with the IMF
IMF Data Dissemination Systems participants:      IMF member using SDDS      IMF member, using GDDS      IMF member, not using any of the DDSystems      non-IMF entity using SDDS      non-IMF entity using GDDS      no interaction with the IMF

In 1995, the International Monetary Fund began work on data dissemination standards with the view of guiding IMF member countries to disseminate their economic and financial data to the public. The International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) endorsed the guidelines for the dissemination standards and they were split into two tiers: The General Data Dissemination System (GDDS) and the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS).

The International Monetary Fund executive board approved the SDDS and GDDS in 1996 and 1997 respectively and subsequent amendments were published in a revised “Guide to the General Data Dissemination System”. The system is aimed primarily at statisticians and aims to improve many aspects of statistical systems in a country. It is also part of the World Bank Millennium Development Goals and Poverty Reduction Strategic Papers.

The IMF established a system and standard to guide members in the dissemination to the public of their economic and financial data. Currently there are two such systems: General Data Dissemination System (GDDS) and its superset Special Data Dissemination System (SDDS), for those member countries having or seeking access to international capital markets.

The primary objective of the GDDS is to encourage IMF member countries to build a framework to improve data quality and increase statistical capacity building. This will involve the preparation of metadata describing current statistical collection practices and setting improvement plans. Upon building a framework, a country can evaluate statistical needs, set priorities in improving the timeliness, transparency, reliability and accessibility of financial and economic data.

Some countries initially used the GDDS, but lately upgraded to SDDS.

Some entities that are not themselves IMF members also contribute statistical data to the systems:

[edit] Membership qualifications

Any country may apply for membership to the IMF. The application will be considered first by the IMF's Executive Board. After its consideration, the Executive Board will submit a report to the Board of Governors of the IMF with recommendations in the form of a "Membership Resolution." These recommendations cover the amount of quota in the IMF, the form of payment of the subscription, and other customary terms and conditions of membership. After the Board of Governors has adopted the "Membership Resolution," the applicant state needs to take the legal steps required under its own law to enable it to sign the IMF's Articles of Agreement and to fulfil the obligations of IMF membership. Similarly, any member country can withdraw from the Fund, although that is rare. For example, in April 2007, the president of Ecuador Rafael Correa announced the expulsion of the World Bank representative in the country. A few days later, at the end of April, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez announced that the country would withdraw from the IMF and the World Bank. Chavez dubbed both organizations as “the tools of the empire” that “serve the interests of the North”.[3] As of April 2008, both countries remain as members of both organizations. Venezuela was forced to back down because a withdrawal would have triggered default clauses in the country's sovereign bonds.[4]

A member's quota in the IMF determines the amount of its subscription, its voting weight, its access to IMF financing, and its allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs). A member state cannot unilaterally increase its quota — increases must be approved by the Executive Board and are linked to formulas that include many variables such as the size of a country in the world economy. For example, in 2001, China was prevented from increasing its quota as high as it wished, ensuring it remained at the level of the smallest G7 economy (Canada).[4] In September 2005, the IMF's member countries agreed to the first round of ad hoc quota increases for four countries, including China. On March 28, 2008, the IMF's Executive Board ended a period of extensive discussion and negotiation over a major package of reforms to enhance the institution's governance that would shift quota and voting shares from advanced to emerging markets and developing countries. The Fund's Board of Governors must vote on these reforms by April 28, 2008. See "Reform of IMF Quotas and Voice: Responding to Changes in the Global Economy" at www.imf.org.

Examples of press coverage of the discussions regarding changes to the voting formula to increase equity:IMF Seeks Role in Shifting Global Economy

[edit] Members' quotas and voting power, and Board of Governors

Table showing the top 21 member countries in terms of voting power:[5]

IMF Member Country Quota: Millions of SDRs Quota: Percentage of Total Governor Alternate Governor Votes: Number Votes: Percentage of Total
Flag of Australia Australia 3236.4 1.49 Wayne Swan Ken Henry 32614 1.47
Flag of Belgium Belgium 4605.2 2.12 Jezreel Pattaguan Jean-Pierre Arnoldi 46302 2.09
Flag of Brazil Brazil 3036.1 1.4 Guido Mantega Henrique de Campos Meirelles 30611 1.38
Flag of Canada Canada 6369.2 2.93 Jim Flaherty David A. Dodge 63942 2.89
Flag of the People's Republic of China China 8090.1 3.72 ZHOU Xiaochuan HU Xiaolian 81151 3.66
Flag of France France 10738.5 4.94 Christine Lagarde Christian Noyer 107635 4.86
Flag of Germany Germany 13008.2 5.99 Axel A. Weber Peer Steinbrück 130332 5.88
Flag of India India 4158.2 1.91 P. Chidambaram Yaga V. Reddy 41832 1.89
Flag of Italy Italy 7055.5 3.25 Giulio Tremonti Mario Draghi 70805 3.2
Flag of Japan Japan 13312.8 6.13 Koji Omi Toshihiko Fukui 133378 6.02
Flag of South Korea Korea 2927.3 1.35 Okyu Kwon Seong Tae Lee 29523 1.33
Flag of Mexico Mexico 3152.8 1.45 Agustín Carstens Guillermo Ortiz 31778 1.43
Flag of the Netherlands Netherlands 5162.4 2.38 A.H.E.M. Wellink L.B.J. van Geest 51874 2.34
Flag of Russia Russian Federation 5945.4 2.74 Aleksei Kudrin Sergey Ignatiev 59704 2.7
Flag of Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia 6985.5 3.21 Ibrahim A. Al-Assaf Hamad Al-Sayari 70105 3.17
Flag of Spain Spain 3048.9 1.4 Pedro Solbes Miguel Fernández Ordóñez 30739 1.39
Flag of Sweden Sweden 2395.5 1.1 Stefan Ingves Per Jansson 24205 1.09
Flag of Switzerland Switzerland 3458.5 1.59 Jean-Pierre Roth Hans-Rudolf Merz 34835 1.57
Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom 10738.5 4.94 Alistair Darling Mervyn King 107635 4.86
Flag of the United States United States 37149.3 17.09 Henry Paulson Ben Bernanke 371743 16.79
Flag of Venezuela Venezuela 2659.1 1.22 Gastón Parra Luzardo Rodrigo Cabeza Morales 26841 1.21
remaining 165 countries 60081.4 29.14 respective respective 637067 28.78

[edit] Assistance and reforms

The primary mission of the IMF is to provide financial assistance to countries that experience serious financial and economic difficulties using funds deposited with the IMF from the institution's 185 member countries. Member states with balance of payments problems, which often arise from these difficulties, may request loans to help fill gaps between what countries earn and/or are able to borrow from other official lenders and what countries must spend to operate, including to cover the cost of importing basic goods and services. In return, countries are usually required to launch certain reforms, which have often been dubbed the "Washington Consensus". These reforms are generally required because countries with fixed exchange rate policies can engage in fiscal, monetary, and political practices which may lead to the crisis itself. For example, nations with severe budget deficits, rampant inflation, strict price controls, or significantly over-valued or under-valued currencies run the risk of facing balance of payment crises. Thus, the structural adjustment programs are at least ostensibly intended to ensure that the IMF is actually helping to prevent financial crises rather than merely funding financial recklessness.

[edit] IMF/World Bank support of military dictatorships

The role of the Bretton Woods institutions has been controversial to some since the late Cold War period. Critics claim that IMF policy makers deliberately supported military dictatorships friendly to American and European corporations. Critics also claim that the IMF is generally apathetic or hostile to their views of democracy, human rights, and labor rights. The controversy has helped spark the anti-globalization movement. Others claim the IMF has little power to democratize sovereign states, although that is not its stated objective, which is to advise and promote financial stability. Arguments in favor of the IMF say that economic stability is a precursor to democracy, however critics highlight various examples in which democratized countries fell after receiving IMF loans.[6]

Countries that were or are under a Military dictatorship whilst being members of the IMF/World Bank (support from various sources in $ Billion):[7]

Country indebted to IMF/World Bank Dictator In power from In power to debts at start of Dictatorship(1) Debts at end of Dictatorship(2) Country Debts in 1996 Dictator debts generated $ billion Dictator generated debt % of total debt
Flag of Argentina Argentina Military dictatorship 1976 1983 9.3 48.9 93.8 39.6 42.00%
Flag of Bolivia Bolivia Military dictatorship 1962 1980 0 2.7 5.2 2.7 52.00%
Flag of Brazil Brazil Military dictatorship 1964 1984 5.1 105.1 179 100 56.00%
Flag of Chile Chile Augusto Pinochet 1974 1989 5.2 18 27.4 12.8 47.00%
Flag of El Salvador El Salvador Military dictatorship 1979 1994 0.9 2.2 2.2 1.3 59.00%
Flag of Ethiopia Ethiopia Mengistu Haile Mariam 1977 1991 0.5 4.2 10 3.7 37.00%
Flag of Haiti Haiti Jean-Claude Duvalier 1971 1986 0 0.7 0.9 0.7 78.00%
Flag of Indonesia Indonesia Suharto 1967 1998 3 129 129 126 98.00%
Flag of Kenya Kenya Moi 1979 2002 2.7 6.9 6.9 4.2 61.00%
Flag of Liberia Liberia Doe 1979 1990 0.6 1.9 2.1 1.3 62.00%
Flag of Malawi Malawi Banda 1964 1994 0.1 2 2.3 1.9 83.00%
Flag of Nigeria Nigeria Buhari/Abacha 1984 1998 17.8 31.4 31.4 13.6 43.00%
Flag of Pakistan Pakistan Zia-ul Haq 1977 1988 7.6 17
Flag of Paraguay Paraguay Stroessner 1954 1989 0.1 2.4 2.1 2.3 96.00%
Flag of the Philippines Philippines Marcos 1965 1986 1.5 28.3 41.2 26.8 65.00%
Flag of Somalia Somalia Siad Barre 1969 1991 0 2.4 2.6 2.4 92.00%
Flag of South Africa South Africa apartheid 1992 18.7 23.6 18.7 79.00%
Flag of Sudan Sudan Nimeiry/al-Mahdi 1969 present 0.3 17 17 16.7 98.00%
Flag of Syria Syria Assad 1970 present 0.2 21.4 21.4 21.2 99.00%
Flag of Thailand Thailand Military dictatorship 1950 1983 0 13.9 90.8 13.9 15.00%
Flag of Zaire Zaire/Congo Mobutu 1965 1997 0.3 12.8 12.8 12.5 98.00%

Notes: Debt at takeover by dictatorship; earliest data published by the World Bank is for 1970. Debt at end of dictatorship (or 1996, most recent date for World Bank data).

[edit] Criticism

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Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2008)

Two criticisms from economists have been that financial aid is always bound to so-called "Conditionalities", including Structural Adjustment Programs. Conditionalities, which are the economic performance targets established as a precondition for IMF loans, it is claimed, retard social stability and hence inhibit the stated goals of the IMF, while Structural Adjustment Programs lead to an increase in poverty in recipient countries.[8]

Typically the IMF and its supporters advocate a Keynesian approach. As such, adherents of supply-side economics generally find themselves in open disagreement with the IMF. The IMF frequently advocates currency devaluation, criticized by proponents of supply-side economics as inflationary. Secondly they link higher taxes under "austerity programmes" with economic contraction.

Currency devaluation is recommended by the IMF to the governments of poor nations with struggling economies. Supply-side economists claim these Keynesian IMF policies are destructive to economic prosperity.

That said, the IMF sometimes advocates "austerity programmes," increasing taxes even when the economy is weak, in order to generate government revenue and balance budget deficits, which is the opposite of Keynesian policy. These policies were criticised by Joseph E. Stiglitz, former chief economist and Senior Vice President at the World Bank, in his book Globalization and Its Discontents.[9] He argued that by converting to a more Monetarist approach, the fund no longer had a valid purpose, as it was designed to provide funds for countries to carry out Keynesian reflations, and that the IMF "was not participating in a conspiracy, but it was reflecting the interests and ideology of the Western financial community."[10]

Complaints are also directed toward International Monetary Fund gold reserve being undervalued. At its inception in 1945, the IMF pegged gold at US$35 per Troy ounce of gold. In 1973 the Nixon administration lifted the fixed asset value of gold in favor of a world market price. Hence the fixed exchange rates of currencies tied to gold were switched to a floating rate, also based on market price and exchange. This largely came about because Petrodollars outside the United States were more than could be backed by the gold at Fort Knox under the fixed exchange rate system. The fixed rate system only served to limit the amount of assistance the organization could use to help debt-ridden countries. Current IMF rules prohibit members from linking their currencies to gold.

Argentina, which had been considered by the IMF to be a model country in its compliance to policy proposals by the Bretton Woods institutions, experienced a catastrophic economic crisis in 2001 , which some believe to have been caused by IMF-induced budget restrictions — which undercut the government's ability to sustain national infrastructure even in crucial areas such as health, education, and security — and privatization of strategically vital national resources.[citation needed] Others attribute the crisis to Argentina's maldesigned fiscal federalism, which caused subnational spending to increase rapidly.[11] The crisis added to widespread hatred of this institution in Argentina and other South American countries, with many blaming the IMF for the region's economic problems.[12] The current — as of early 2006 — trend towards moderate left-wing governments in the region and a growing concern with the development of a regional economic policy largely independent of big business pressures has been ascribed to this crisis.

Another example of where IMF Structural Adjustment Programmes aggravated the problem was in Kenya. Before the IMF got involved in the country, the Kenyan central bank oversaw all currency movements in and out of the country. The IMF mandated that the Kenyan central bank had to allow easier currency movement. However, the adjustment resulted in very little foreign investment, but allowed Kamlesh Manusuklal Damji Pattni, with the help of corrupt government officials, to siphon off billions of Kenyan shillings in what came to be known as the Goldenberg scandal, leaving the country worse off than it was before the IMF reforms were implemented.[citation needed] In a recent interview, the Prime Minister of Romania stated that "Since 2005, IMF is constantly making mistakes when it appreciates the country's economic performances"[13].

Overall the IMF success record is perceived as limited.[citation needed] While it was created to help stabilize the global economy, since 1980 critics claim over 100 countries (or reputedly most of the Fund's membership) have experienced a banking collapse that they claim have reduced GDP by four percent or more, far more than at any time in Post-Depression history.[citation needed] The considerable delay in the IMF's response to any crisis, and the fact that it tends to only respond to them or even create them[14] rather than prevent them, has led many economists to argue for reform. In 2006, an IMF reform agenda called the Medium Term Strategy was widely endorsed by the institution's member countries. The agenda includes changes in IMF governance to enhance the role of developing countries in the institution's decision-making process and steps to deepen the effectiveness of its core mandate, which is known as economic surveillance or helping member countries adopt macroeconomic policies that will sustain global growth and reduce poverty. On June 15, 2007, the Executive Board of the IMF adopted the 2007 Decision on Bilateral Surveillance, a landmark measure that replaced a 30-year-old decision of the Fund's member countries on how the IMF should analyse economic outcomes at the country level.

Whatever the feelings people in the Western world have for the IMF, research by the Pew Research Center shows that more than 60 percent of Asians and 70 percent of Africans feel that the IMF and the World Bank have a positive effect on their country.[15] However it is pertinent to note that the survey aggregated international organizations including the World Trade Organization. Also, a similar percentage of people in the Western world believed that these international organizations had a positive effect on their countries. In 2005, the IMF was the first multilateral financial institution to implement a sweeping debt-relief program for the world's poorest countries known as the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative. By year-end 2006, 23 countries mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and Central America had received total relief of debts owed the IMF.

[edit] Past managing directors

Historically the IMF's managing director has been European and the president of the World Bank has been from the United States. However, this standard is increasingly being questioned and competition for these two posts may soon open up to include other qualified candidates from any part of the world. Executive Directors, who confirm the managing director are voted in by Finance Ministers from countries they represent. The First Deputy Managing Director of the IMF, the second-in-command, has traditionally been (and is today) an American.

The IMF is for the most part controlled by the major Western Powers, with voting rights on the Executive board based on a quota derived from the relative size of a country in the global economy. Critics claim that the board rarely votes and passes issues contradicting the will of the US or Europeans, which combined represent the largest bloc of shareholders in the Fund. On the other hand, Executive Directors that represent emerging and developing countries have many times strongly defended the group of nations in their constituency. Alexandre Kafka, who represented several Latin American countries for 32 years as Executive Director (including 21 as the dean of the Board), is a prime example. Mohamed Finaish from Libya, the Executive Director representing the majority of the Arab World and Pakistan, was a tireless defender[citation needed] of the developing nations' rights at the IMF until the 1992 elections.

Rodrigo Rato became the ninth Managing Director of the IMF on June 7, 2004 and resigned his post at the end of October 2007.

EU ministers agreed on the candidacy of Dominique Strauss-Kahn as managing director of the IMF at the Economic and Financial Affairs Council meeting in Brussels on July 10, 2007. On September 28, 2007, the International Monetary Fund's 24 executive directors elected Mr. Strauss-Kahn as new managing director, with broad support including from the United States and the 27-nation European Union. Strauss-Kahn succeeded Spain's Rodrigo de Rato, who retired on October 31, 2007. [16] The only other nominee was Josef Tosovsky, a late candidate proposed by Russia. Strauss-Kahn said: "I am determined to pursue without delay the reforms needed for the IMF to make financial stability serve the international community, while fostering growth and employment." [17]

Dates Name Country
May 6, 1946 – May 5, 1951 Camille Gutt Belgium
August 3, 1951 – October 3, 1956 Ivar Rooth Sweden
November 21, 1956 – May 5, 1963 Per Jacobsson Sweden
September 1, 1963 – August 31, 1973 Pierre-Paul Schweitzer France
September 1, 1973 – June 16, 1978 Johannes Witteveen Netherlands
June 17, 1978 – January 15, 1987 Jacques de Larosière France
January 16, 1987 – February 14, 2000 Michel Camdessus France
May 1, 2000 – March 4, 2004 Horst Köhler Germany
June 7, 2004 – October 31, 2007 Rodrigo Rato Spain
November 1, 2007 – present Dominique Strauss-Kahn France

[edit] Media representation of the IMF

The documentary Life and Debt deals with the IMF's policies' influence on Jamaica and its economy from a critical point of view. In 1978, one year after Jamaica first entered a borrowing relationship with the IMF, the Jamaican dollar was still worth more on the open exchange than the US dollar; by 1995, when Jamaica terminated that relationship, the Jamaican dollar had eroded to less than 2 cents US. Such observations lead to skepticism that IMF involvement is necessarily helpful to a third world economy.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Exchange Rate Archives by Month
  2. ^ IMF Articles of Agreement, Article XII Section 2(a) and Section 3(b).
  3. ^ Brief video of the Bretton Woods Conference is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVytOtfPZe8
  4. ^ Barnett, Michael and Finnemore, Martha. Rules for the World: International Organizations in Global Politics. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2004.
  5. ^ "http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/memdir/members.htm#3", IMF. Retrieved on 2007-09-24. 
  6. ^ "World Bank - IMF support to dictatorships", cadtm. Retrieved on 2007-09-21. 
  7. ^ "Dictators and debt", Jubilee 2000. Retrieved on 2007-09-21. 
  8. ^ Hertz, Noreena. The Debt Threat. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2004.
  9. ^ Stiglitz, Joseph. Globalization and its Discontents. New York: WW Norton & Company, 2002.
  10. ^ Globalization: Stiglitz's Case
  11. ^ Stephen Webb, "Argentina: Hardening the Provincial Budget Constraint," in Rodden, Eskeland, and Litvack (eds.), Fiscal Decentralization and the Challenge of Hard Budget Constraints (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2003).
  12. ^ How the IMF Props Up the Bankrupt Dollar System, by F. William Engdahl, US/Germany
  13. ^ Tăriceanu: FMI a făcut constant greşeli de apreciere a economiei româneşti - Mediafax
  14. ^ Budhoo, Davidson. Enough is Enough: Dear Mr. Camdessus... Open Letter to the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. New York: New Horizons Press, 1990.
  15. ^ GLOBAL ATTITUDES : 44-NATION MAJOR SURVEY (2002), The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press
  16. ^ Yahoo.com, IMF to choose new director
  17. ^ BBC NEWS, Frenchman is named new IMF chief

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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