Due to the recent market gyrations and capital market consternation in Europe, it seems as though the Christine Lagarde's International Monetary Fund (lMF) will loom quite large in the future finance plans of many European countries. Unlike the new Tom Cruise movie "Ghost Protocol" in which an agents actions are disavowed and officially unrecognized, the IMF now has a clearly present protocol and will be an agent to aid in liquidity and crisis prevention. The organization recently announced a new program that would "bolster the flexibility and scope" of emergency programs and is effectively providing short term assistance to countries through its' Precautionary Credit Limit (PCL). The duration of most loans is 1-2 years along with another 6 month facility. During the G20 summit, a Precautionary Liquidity Line (PLL) was unveiled in Cannes, these allow loans of up to 5 times the countries financial contribution. If the loans go to a second year they can reach 10 times the countries contribution. Currently, Macedonia was the only country that was able to qualify and draw down, while Italy initially did not request the loan it submitted its' willingness to monitoring and review by the IMF during the Berlusconi administration. This was a much needed concession that will serve to create the discipline needed to execute austerity measures and further instill sorely needed confidence in the soveriegn's credit.
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