Republican leaders said a final agreement could be announced as early as Tuesday as part of a huge government spending package.

The draft agreement, obtained by Reuters, would require the Washington-based IMF to lend at above market rates to crisis-hit countries, and would call for those loans to be repaid within 1 to 2-1/2 years.

The compromise would also require the United States to oppose future IMF loan payments to South Korea if Seoul uses the money to support domestic industries desperate for a cash infusion.

Senate Appropriations Committee chairman Ted Stevens, an Alaska Republican, and representative Sonny Callahan, a top House negotiator, said the accord was hammered out during weekend negotiations with the US treasury department.

"Wehave the framework agreed upon," said Callahan, an Alabama Republican.

A treasury spokesman was not immediately available to comment on the reform package.

"There's progress but it's not final," a White House official said.

Congressional negotiators said the terms of the IMF agreement could be changed by the Republican leadership and would not be complete until other budget disputes with the White House were settled.

Lawmakers plan to wrap the money for the IMF into a catchall government spending package, the subject of tense negotiations between Republicans and the White House. So a final agreement on the IMF depends on how progress is made on the overall package.

Senate majority leader Trent Lott insisted that only a "couple of words" in the proposed IMF package had to be worked out. "I think we are going to come to agreement on that and provide the funds," the Mississippi Republican said.

Representative John Boehner of Ohio, member of the House Republican leadership, said a deal was imminent."There will be IMF money in the bill but there will also be tough reforms," he said.

An agreement handing over $18 billion to the IMF would be a major victory for the White House, which is desperate to shore up confidence in the IMF's finances so it can tackle the spreading global economic crisis. That crisis has swept across Asia and Russia to Brazil and other Latin American nations, and has thrown world financial markets into turmoil.

Due to IMF rules, other countries are waiting for the United States, the fund's largest shareholder, to pay up before they chip in their share to replenish coffers drained by bailouts for Russia and three Asian states.

The tentative agreement would free up the full $18 billion requested by the White House, if the United States and other IMF member states agreed to push through the following reforms at the lending agency:

* IMF loans to countries with balance-of-payment problems would be at least 300 basis points above market rates. These loans must also be repaidwithin 1 to 2-1/2 years of disbursement.

* IMF borrowers would be required to liberalise trade restrictions, eliminate government-directed lending on noncommercial terms and treat all creditors equally in bankruptcy proceedings.

* The IMF would be required to release written summaries of board meetings, letters of intent and policy framework papers, with certain exceptions.

* The treasury department would be required to oppose future IMF loan payments to South Korea, unless treasury certifies that IMF funds are not being used to subsidise Korean industries crippled by the Asian crisis.

* A temporary, bipartisan advisory committee would be set up to conduct hearings on the IMF and other international agencies. The panel would prepare a report for Congress.

* The proposed legislation would urge the US administration to create a permanent international advisory committee to review IMF policies.

* The legislation would also press IMF borrowers to open their markets to agricultural goods and would callon the IMF to do more to protect workers and the environment.

The tentative agreement unveiled on Monday would give the IMF more leeway in setting loan terms than under last week's Republican plan for reforms. Last week, the Republican leadership called for IMF loans to mature in just one year.

The administration has warned lawmakers in the past against dictating reform conditions to the IMF, because the agency reports to 182 governments and not just the United States.