Dec 16 (Reuters) - Lithuania, facing a recession and aiming to cap its budget deficit at about 2 percent of GDP, has no need for International Monetary Fund (IMF) aid and should keep its currency peg, a Fund official said on Tuesday.
Below are details of some of IMF's existing lending packages and current funding:
RECENT RESCUE PACKAGES:
* ARMENIA -- The IMF approved a three-year, $13.6 million loan programme in November to support Armenia's economy up to 2011. It allows Armenia to withdraw $1.9 million from the fund immediately.
* BELARUS -- Belarus, seeking a $2 billion loan from the IMF, said last Friday, it would slash the country's 2008 budget deficit to $156 million from $1.1 billion.
-- The IMF is due back in Minsk this week to continue talks about the loan. It has criticised the government's spending and also talked of adjusting the ex-Soviet state's currency policy. * HUNGARY -- The IMF, the EU and World Bank agreed a $25.1 billion economic rescue package for Hungary in November in the biggest loan for an emerging market economy since the global crisis began.
-- Hungary turned to the IMF after its big budget deficit and heavy dependence on foreign borrowing spooked investors when the global crisis intensified, sparking a run on its forint currency.
-- The IMF's conditions forced the government to make additional spending cuts, including in social spending and public sector wages, which had been regarded as taboo so far.
* ICELAND -- IMF approved a $2.1 billion loan for Iceland on Nov. 19 after weeks of delays due to wrangling between Iceland and some European nations.
-- Iceland's major banks and currency had collapsed under the weight of billions of dollars of debt accumulated in an aggressive overseas expansion into financial services.
-- The IMF deal will be complemented by more than $3 billion in loans from Nordic countries, Russia and Poland as well as special financing arrangements of close to $5 billion or more by Britain, the Netherlands and Germany, making the whole package worth about $10 billion.
* LATVIA -- Latvia's parliament backed an austerity package on Dec. 12 after a marathon session of 20 hours to help win aid from the IMF and the European Union.
-- The government has given no figure for how much Latvia needs to borrow from the IMF and the EU, but has said it needs to cover the budget deficit, have a reserve fund to back up the ailing banking system and to stimulate credit for businesses. Finance Minister Atis Slakteris has said his experts estimated the amount needed at 5 billion euros ($6.47 billion).
* MALAWI -- The IMF said on Dec. 3 it approved a $77.1 million to help Malawi reduce the impact of high fuel and fertilizer costs.
-- The Fund announced last week the immediate disbursal of $51.4 million of the one-year loan to Malawi under the Fund's Exogenous Shocks Facility.
-- The facility is designed to offer aid to countries hit by unforeseen events such as natural disasters, conflicts or dramatic commodity price fluctuations. The IMF estimated that higher global prices of oil, fertilizers and other imported goods in 2008 cut Malawi's trade balance by about $156 million. * PAKISTAN -- The IMF approved of a loan of $7.6 billion on Nov. 24 to avert a balance of payments crisis and prevent the government defaulting on its international debt obligations.
-- Pakistan got immediate access to the $3.1 billion under the 23-month facility with the rest to be phased in subject to quarterly review.
* SERBIA -- Serbia has agreed a $516 million deal with the IMF, due for approval on Dec. 19, as it tries to reassure investors that its policies stay on track despite the ravages of the financial crisis.
-- The terms of the agreement require that Serbia cut its budget deficit to 1.5 percent of GDP in 2009, from 2.7 percent this year. * SEYCHELLES -- IMF agreed a two-year $26 million rescue package on Nov. 14 for the Seychelles, whose foreign debt had been valued at $800 million. Initially the country will receive $9.1 million.
-- The package is dependent on economic reforms.
* TURKEY -- Turkey and the IMF have been locked in negotiations for fresh funding after the country's $10 billion standby deal expired in May. The IMF said a team would visit Ankara in early January, and that it had made progress in talks with the country that could lead to a loan programme.
-- Government sources said on Dec. 5 Turkey would seek a loan agreement with the IMF amounting to $25 billion and it may take the form of an 18-month stand-by deal.
-- Economists say Turkey needs IMF help because its $74 billion currency reserves are no longer a large enough buffer, given the more than $100 billion of external debt falling due in the next 12 months and a current account deficit estimated at around $35 billion for 2009.
* UKRAINE -- The IMF approved a $16.5 billion loan package on Nov. 6 to help Ukraine withstand the financial crisis. Ukraine received its first tranche worth $4.5 billion four days later.
-- The programme incorporates monetary and exchange rate policy shifts, banking recapitalisation and fiscal and incomes policy adjustments.
* IMF FUNDING:
-- As of Aug. 28, the fund had $201 billion in loanable funds. It had $18.3 billion loaned out under a variety of programmes to 65 countries.
-- Following the G20 summit in Washington, there was no fresh money for the IMF beyond a unilateral Japanese offer for a $100 billion loan. Saudi Arabia, intensely lobbied by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to use its oil wealth to augment the Fund, said that it had not come to Washington to pay the bill.
(Writing by Carl Bagh and David Cutler, Editorial Reference Units in Bangalore and London; Additional writing by Jijo Jacob;)