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IMF Identity Crisis

The evidence that its members states are seeking to escape from the International Monetary Fund's "jurisdiction" continues to mount. Most recently, Uruguay, the IMF's third largest borrower, became the latest country to announce that it was repaying its outstanding obligations to the IMF.

http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3777

(Added: Wed Dec 20 2006   Modified: Thu Jan 25 2007   Hits: 48)

IMF conditionalities in Nicaragua

In an interview for Intermón Oxfam (Spain), the economist Adolfo Acevedo Vogl explains the different forms in which the International Monetary Fund (IMF) interferes in the economic, social and political life of Nicaragua. The consequences of this practice are reflected in the quality of life of the population. (Coordinadora Civil, 17 July 2006)

http://ifis.choike.org/informes/385.html

(Added: Fri Dec 15 2006   Hits: 98)

Kicking the Habit: How the World Bank and the IMF are still addicted to attaching economic policy conditions to aid

Despite numerous commitments to reform, The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are still using their aid to make developing countries implement inappropriate economic policies, with the tacit approval of rich-country governments. These economic policy conditions undermine national policy-making, delay aid flows, and often fail to deliver for poor people. If the world is to make poverty history, this practice must be stopped. Aid must be conditional on being spent transparently and on reducing poverty, and nothing more. (Oxfam, November 2006)

http://www.oxfam.org/en/policy/briefingpapers/bp96_kicking_the_habit_061127

(Added: Fri Dec 15 2006   Hits: 236)

Arming NGOs with knowledge: a guide to the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

This handbook explains the nature, structure and activities of the IMF in order to de-mystify the institution and explain how it affects people's lives. It also presents the criticisms that various citizens' groups have had of IMF operations, and specific strategies for targeting the Fund and other related institutions. Despite the Fund's growing power, the time is ripe to push for comprehensive changes at the IMF. The global financial crisis has sparked an unprecedented debate among policymakers and within the media on the role of the IMF as no other recent event has. The growing international citizens' movement calling for comprehensive debt relief for the world's poorest countries is proof that people can and are getting educated and mobilized on issues of economic injustice. (Friends of the Earth, 2006)

http://www.foe.org/res/pubs/pdf/handbook.pdf

(Added: Fri Nov 10 2006   Hits: 258)

Who's Free Riding? A critique of the World Bank's Approach to Non-Concessional Borrowing by Low Income Countries

This paper considers the current proposals by the World Bank to curb the potential for 'free riding' - when a provides new loans to low income countries at risk of debt distress. The paper argues that the Bank proposals are less motivated by a concern over the future debt sustainability of their low-income borrowers but by the realpolitik and financial exigencies facing the Bretton Woods institutions today. Consequently, the measures proposed are not only operationally flawed but represent instead new mechanisms to continue binding IDA countries to financing flows - and thereby financial discipline - by the Bank and the International Monetary Fund. (Celine Tan, University of Warwick, 2006)

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/csgr/research/abstracts/20906/

(Added: Mon Oct 16 2006   Hits: 50)

Globalisation: the role of the IMF

This report is one output from an independent enquiry into the International Monetary Fund, conducted by a group of NGOs and selection of academic experts, the Governor of the Bank of England, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The report deals first with defining a purpose for the Fund and, with this purpose in mind, it deals in turn with the governance of the Fund, its surveillance and analysis functions, its lending, its finances and the UK Government report on its dealings with the IMF. Among other things, t0t finds that the IMF has, in recent times, taken on too many roles; that the IMF should remain within its remit of crisis prevention,not extend its activities into areas of social policy and development it does not appear to be equipped to deal with; that the governance of the Fund should be made more accountable and transparent; that there should be movement to allow a fairer representation of the newly emerging economies; that poorer nations should not have to pay to gain access to the range of services the IMF can provide; and that funding for surveillance should be seen to be as independent as the actual analysis. (House of Commons Treasury Committee, 2006)

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmtreasy/875/875.pdf

(Added: Wed Oct 04 2006   Hits: 173)

Africa Falls Off the IMF Agenda (Again)

The juggling of board votes has demonstrated that at the IMF, those nations who are the least likely to be subjected to the institution's policies wield the most power over the direction those policies take. Countries that must take the IMF's medicine get the fewest votes. They should expect to lose even those. While the four beneficiaries of the latest reform may see a symbolic, or psychological, boost from the maneuver, the real power at the IMF will not shift. The shunting aside of Africa in this latest reform demonstrates how far from fair the current IMF is. (FPIF, Sameer Dossani and Soren Ambrose, 27 September 2006)

http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3548

(Added: Thu Sep 28 2006   Hits: 43)

Out of time: The case for replacing the World Bank and IMF

There seems no end in sight to the cycle of debt, and the free market policies imposed on poor countries continue, albeit with new names. Increasingly obvious is the need not just for debt write-offs and changes to Bank and Fund conditionality but for a more fundamental change to the role, remit and functioning of the international financial institutions (IFIs). In this 64-page report, a brief history of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund is followed by a detailed critique explaining the overwhelming case for change, followed finally by WDM's suggested agenda for scrapping the World Bank and IMF and creating very different international financial institutions (IFIs). (World Development Movement, September 2006)

http://www.wdm.org.uk/resources/briefings/debt/outoftimereport.pdf

(Added: Thu Sep 21 2006   Hits: 262)

Too much, too soon: IMF conditionality and inflation targeting

This briefing finds that finds that despite little evidence of the success of inflation targeting in promoting economic growth, employment creation or poverty reduction, the IMF is increasingly using loan conditions and technical assistance to push its use. There is an urgent need for viable alternatives that focus on employment generation, poverty reduction, export promotion and investment enhancement to be given more attention. (Gerald Epstein, Bretton Woods Project, 11 September 2006)

http://brettonwoodsproject.org/art.shtml?x=542599

(Added: Tue Sep 12 2006   Hits: 41)

Still the Rich World's Viceroy

According to this commentary, the International Monetary Fund's reforms seem designed not to catalyse further change, but to prevent it. By slightly increasing the shares (and therefore the voting powers) of China, South Korea, Mexico and Turkey, the regime hopes to buy off the most powerful developing countries to keep the rest at bay. No one - except the leaders of the rich nations and the leader writers of just about every newspaper in the rich world - could regard this as an adequate response to its problems. (George Monbiot, Guardian, 5 September 2006)

http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2006/09/05/still-the-rich-worlds-viceroy/

(Added: Thu Sep 07 2006   Hits: 66)

The IMF: Shrink it or Sink it: A Consensus Declaration and Strategy Paper

The following document was collectively drafted over a period of two months by representatives of organizations that attended the "Strategy Session on the International Monetary Fund" at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC, on the occasion of the IMF-World Bank Spring meeting during the third week of April 2006. The International Monetary Fund is perhaps at its most vulnerable state in years. It is suffering a triple crisis--a crisis of legitimacy, a budget crisis, and a role crisis--that is unparalleled in its 62 years of existence. The paper outlines the events, beginning with the East Asia financial crisis, that led to this point. The paper argues that the circumstances provide critics of the Fund with an opportunity to radically shrink, disempower, if not decommission it altogether. This paper is being circulated globally for endorsement in advance of the critical Fall meeting of the Bretton Woods institutions that will be held in Singapore on 13-20 September 2006.

http://www.focusweb.org/content/view/985/27/

(Added: Mon Aug 21 2006   Hits: 77)

World Campaign for in-depth Reform of the System of International Institutions

This Campaign intends to encourage a series of reforms of international institutions towards a global system of democratic governance through representative procedures involving the participation of all the actors of the world scene. Its key objective is to contribute to establishing a consistent, transparent, responsible and effective global architecture based on developing international legislation whose democratic value and legitimacy is widely accepted. At the heart of this system would be a stronger, more democratic United Nations Organisation, with effective control over all its bodies and agencies and over global multilateral organisations. Such an institutional system would be empowered to contribute to building a fairer, more equitable, diverse, sustainable and peaceful world.

http://www.reformcampaign.net/

(Added: Mon Aug 21 2006   Hits: 186)

My week with the rubbish-children of Peru

Two million children - starting at three or four - are forced to work in Peru, some never leaving the rubbish dump, or the stone quarry, where they make their maegre living. This author spends some time with them, as well as a determined band of Peruvian heroes, supported by Sport Relief, a British charity, who work to get children out of work - something made difficult by the dicates of the IMF. (Johann Hari, the Independent, 14 July 2006)

http://www.johannhari.com/archive/article.php?id=924

(Added: Fri Jul 21 2006   Hits: 96)

Challenging conditions: A new strategy for reform at the World Bank and IMF (pdf)

Nations must collectively respond to poverty, but the World Bank and IMF are failing to contribute to this goal because of deeply embedded conflicts of interest, their dominance by the world's richest countries and overlapping roles. One symptom of all this is their continued use of controversial economic policy conditions, such as liberalisation and privatisation, despite their claims to be supporting countries to make their own policy choices. Such conditions force governments to implement policies, even if they are unpopular with their citizens, have failed to achieve the significant gains in economic growth promised and have been shown to impoverish already poor communities. This 35-page report argues that the UK government should halt funding to the WB and IMF until comprehensive reform is acheived. (Christian Aid, July 2006)

http://www.christian-aid.org.uk/indepth/607ifis/challengingconditions.pdf

(Added: Thu Jul 20 2006   Hits: 205)

Destroy and profit: wars, disasters and corporations (pdf)

This 121 page publication addresses some of the key issues and challenges that accompany post war and post disaster reconstruction programmes. The collection of articles in this publication range from analysing the economic and political restructuring of occupied Iraq, the links between war and disaster profiteering in Hurricane Katrina, the Asian Tsunami, Iraq, Afghanistan and Haiti, and investment agreements in Central Asia, and show some of the common elements among post war and disaster reconstruction programmes. The publication highlights that periods following wars, conflicts and disasters offer an opportunity for national and foreign governments, and multilateral agencies to establish new rules and policies for the provision of goods and services, infrastructure development and investment, and to reshape the geographical, economic and political map of a post-conflict country. It also demonstrates how in many cases foreign governments and companies benefit from reconstruction efforts, rather than local and national populations. (Walden Bello et al, Focus on the Global South, January 2006)

http://www.focusweb.org/pdf/Reconstruction-Dossier.pdf

(Added: Tue Jul 11 2006   Modified: Fri Sep 01 2006   Hits: 245)

The Changing Role of the IMF in the Governance of the Global Economy and its Consequences (pdf)

Since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in the mid-1970s the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, have helped the world avoid the horrors of a systemic collapse. However, they are failing in their mandate to reduce poverty, promote and maintain high levels of employment and real income, a stable international monetary system, and shorten the duration and lessen the degree of payments disequilibria. The increasingly integrated global financial system, with its apparently endemic volatility and uncertainties and unbalanced allocation of resources desperately needs some form of effective global governance. (Daniel Bradlow, New Rules for Global Finance Coalition, June 2006)

http://www.new-rules.org/docs/imfreform/bradlow.pdf

(Added: Mon Jul 10 2006   Hits: 85)

G8 Debt Deal One Year On: What Happened and What Next?

One year on, this 13 page report looks at the debt cancellation deal now renamed the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) agreed upon at the Gleneagles G8 Summit in July 2005. The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the African Development Bank have begun to deliver debt cancellation to 19 impoverished nations, 15 of which are in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, campaigners never felt this deal went far enough, both in terms of the amount of debt cancelled and the number of countries included in the deal. And disputes between rich country governments and the World Bank throughout 2005 mean that the debt relief is less than what was initially jubilantly announced. There continues to be a lack of acknowledgement by governments in the North, as well as the international financial institutions, of the key role they have played in the accumulation of debt burdens in the South. The huge amount of remaining illegitimate debt must be cancelled. (Eurodad, June 2006)

http://www.eurodad.org/uploadstore/cms/docs/G8_debt_deal_one_year_on_final_version.pdf

(Added: Wed Jun 28 2006   Hits: 186)

Implementing MDRI debt relief

This document describes the modalities of how the the African Development Fund (ADF), the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), are to deliver Multinational Debt Relief Initiative. (HIPC Debt Strategy and Analysis Capacity Building Programme, Carribean Development Bank, 18 May 2006)

http://www.hipc-cbp.org/files/en/open/News/MDRI_Aug_2006_En.pdf

(Added: Wed Jun 28 2006   Modified: Thu Sep 21 2006   Hits: 133)

The view from the summit - Gleneagles G8 one year on

One year has passed since the G8 summit in Gleneagles in July 2005, where 36 million people in over 70 countries united under the Global Call to Action against Poverty. As the Russian G8 approaches, this paper explores progress (or the lack thereof) since the G8 in Gleneagles in the areas of debt, aid, conflict, trade, and climate change. (Oxfam, June 2006)

http://oxfam.intelli-direct.com/e/d.dll?m=234&url=http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/debt_aid/downloads/g8_gleneagles_oneyear.pdf

(Added: Wed Jun 28 2006   Modified: Tue Aug 15 2006   Hits: 201)

World Bank and IMF conditionality: a development injustice

This report examines the conditions that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) attach to their development finance in the world's poorest countries. It is based on new research undertaken by Eurodad examining World Bank and IMF lending in twenty impoverished countries. The report reveals that impoverished countries still face an unacceptably high and rising number of conditions in order to gain access to World Bank and IMF development finance. (Eurodad, June 2006)

http://www.eurodad.org/uploadstore/cms/docs/Eurodad_World_Bank_and_IMF_Conditionality_ReportFinal.pdf

(Added: Mon Jun 19 2006   Hits: 120)

Blair calls for merger of IMF, World Bank

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has repeated his call for reform of world bodies such as the United Nations and the World Bank and urged more international support for Iraq in an article published in a French newspaper. (Reuters, Business Day, 29 May 2006)

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/topstories.aspx?ID=BD4A207357

(Added: Wed May 31 2006   Hits: 319)

The Soy Case

Soy production has been booming the past 25 years. Most of this protein and oil containing bean goes as animal feed to the meat industry in Europe and China. Protein from fish meal has become scarce, other animal sources have been forbidden because of BSE, but the demand for meat is rising rapidly world-wide. As a result of the focus on monoculture export crops, such as soy, millions of people in one of the world's biggest food exporting regions are now suffering from malnutrition. GM-soy is contaminating the countryside and the risen use of pesticides is polluting water and soil. This resource discusses the soy case in Latin America. (A SEED, 2006)

http://aseed.tuxic.nl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=108

(Added: Wed May 24 2006   Hits: 354)

Global Monitoring Report 2006: Strengthening Mutual Accountability - Aid, Trade & Governance

The third report on the progress of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It highlights economic growth, better quality aid, and trade reforms, as well as governance as essential elements to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The elements of global monitoring examined in detail in the report include poverty and malnutrition; human development outcomes; meeting commitments on aid, trade, and debt relief; performance of international financial institutions; governance in developing countries; and global checks and balances to strengthen governance. (World Bank and International Monetary Fund, 20 April 2006)

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTGLOBALMONITOR/EXTGLOBALMONITOR2006/0,,contentMDK:20810084~menuPK:2199415~pagePK:64218950~piPK:64218883~theSitePK:2186432,00.html

(Added: Wed May 03 2006   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 278)

Volatility of Development Aid: From the Frying Pan into the Fire? [PDF]

This IMF Working Paper finds that the positive impact of foreign aid is limited by the erratic behavior of aid flows. The introduction in 1999 of various initiatives anchored in Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) which were aimed at strengthening coordination among donors, improving the design of financial support programs, and improving domestic records of policy implementation should have led to an improvement in the time series properties of aid flows. But the authors find no evidence of any fundamental changes in the way aid has been delivered in the past five years. If anything, aid volatility has worsened somewhat and the information value of long-term lending commitments has declined. This means that the main causes of the volatility and unpredictability of aid, and the broader issue of macroeconomic instability in low-income countries, have not been addressed in a systematic manner by the donor community. (Aleš Bulíř and A. Javier Hamann, IMF Institute, March 2006)

http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2006/wp0665.pdf

(Added: Fri Apr 07 2006   Hits: 166)

The IMF and the Adjustment of Global Imbalances [PDF]

This paper warns of an approaching world recession caused by a significant decline of the US dollar because of the growing US trade deficit, and considers the International Monetary Fund's most constructive possible response consistent with its purposes. Such a global financial crisis would have effects could be devastating for many developing countries. To prevent this, the paper recommends pre-emptive group action by leading financial economies, while a loan facility should be set up to help developing countries affected by lower exports or higher interest rates. (Ariel Buira and Martin Abeles, Paper presented at the Technical Group meeting of the G24, 16-17 March, Geneva)

http://www.g24.org/buab0306.pdf

(Added: Thu Mar 30 2006   Modified: Tue Jun 27 2006   Hits: 80)

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