IMF `must improve crisis handling'

THE INTERNATIONAL Monetary Fund must improve crisis management in the world financial system, Stanley Fischer, the Fund's deputy managing director, said last night. "We can surely do better in reducing the frequency and intensity of emerging market financial crises ... than we have in the last five years,'' he said.

International lenders could insist that countries wanting loans met certain conditions, such as releasing economic and financial data on a more frequent and timely basis, he said. Lenders could also offer contingency loans to supplement the reserves of countries threatened by a crisis but not yet in one.