Kosovo to become 186th IMF member next week

Kosovo, little more than a year after independence, will become the 186th member of the International Monetary Fund next week, the IMF said Friday, according to AFP.

Kosovo authorities are to sign the fund's articles of agreement in Washington on Monday, IMF spokesman Alistair Thomson told AFP.

At a news conference at the IMF's Washington headquarters last week, an IMF spokeswoman said the signing would occur before the end of the month, but had not specified the date.

The IMF offered Kosovo, one of the poorest countries in Europe, membership last month.

Ethnic Albanian-majority Kosovo broke away from Serbia and became independent on February 17, 2008. It has since been recognized by 60 countries including the United States and 22 of the European Union's 27 member nations.

Serbia is backed by ally Russia in its opposition to the secession, which it considers a breach of international law.