"We have agreement (that) allows us to move forward with the plan ... togive debt forgiveness to poor nations," house majority leader Dick Armeysaid. The deal, which was a major sticking point in federal budgetnegotiations, allows the International Monetary Fund to revalue part of itsgold, releasing a profit of $3.1 billion to fund debt relief for the world'spoorest countries.

But the deal came at a price for the IMF as republican leaders won aguarantee of greater transparency at the fund, which many in Congress viewas a secretive bureaucracy. "We got some IMF reforms that would give usgreater transparency and probably the biggest thing is that they will haveto publish their budget publicly," Armey said.

Many lawmakers have complained that while the IMF demands developingnations become more transparent, the fund does not practice what it preachesand remains stubbornly opaque.

The deal allows the fund to use 9/14ths of the interest generated by therevaluation now. The balance of the interest needs further congressionalauthorisation by May of next year.

Armey said that by withholding almost one third of the money, Congressretains oversight over the IMF's actions, effectively keeping the fund on ashorter leash. The gold revaluation required approval from a hostileRepublican-controlled Congress because the bullion is owned by the UnitedStates and other IMF member nations. Congress blocked an earlier IMF plan tosell some gold outright because some suspected the fund might divert thecash for other uses.

Since the gold plan is the centrepiece of the international debt reliefeffort, many had feared that should Congress withhold approval, the entireplan could collapse. The breakthrough came as treasury officials negotiatedwith Republican leaders on Capitol Hill late Monday evening. The deal waswelcomed by Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers who said, "Debt relief isimportant for half a billion people in the world's poorest countries.

Additional resources will now be available for critical needs like povertyreduction, education and health care."