"The executive board decision to keep interest rates at zero ... is testament to the Fund's continued support for low-income countries since the global economic crisis hit in 2009," IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in a statement. The IMF decided in 2009 to allow countries eligible for its anti-poverty loan program to pay zero interest on loans in light of the financial crisis.
The Fund also set a target to raise $17 billion to lend to the poorest countries, which are threatened by the risk of euro-zone contagion and by a drop-off in foreign aid after the global recession. IMF's Lagarde has pushed to meet that goal, seeking to ease concerns that the IMF and donor nations may turn a blind eye to the world's poor as they focus on containing the euro zone crisis. In September, the IMF said it would distribute a $3.8 billion windfall from gold sales to its 188 member countries if they agreed to commit most of the money to the anti-poverty loan program.