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IMF Strategic Review: The Managing Directors Report on the Fund's Medium-Term Strategy

This paper brings together the many formal and informal discussions over the past year between the staff, management, and the Executive Board on the strategic direction of the Fund. Some ideas have also been discussed with country authorities and with outside observers, as part of the Fund's normal outreach and consultation. While not comprehensive in scope, the paper does aim for a shared vision that could inform the day to day work and decsions of the Fund. IMF, September 15, 2005

http://www.imf.org/external/np/omd/2005/eng/091505.pdf

(Added: Fri Mar 17 2006   Hits: 53)

Goodbye Washington Consensus, Hello Washington Confusion? [PDF]

"Life used to be relatively simple for the peddlers of policy advice in the tropics" notes Harvard economist Dani Rodrik. Not anymore: in the wake of the much publicised failures of economic policy prescriptions associated with the 'Washington Consensus' there has, in some quarters, been a rethink about just what multilateral organisations ought to be 'advising' developing countries to do with regards to economic policy. The old mantra of "stabilize, privatise and liberalize" is slowly being replaced by something. But what exactly? In this paper Rodrik examines the thoughts of the IMF and World Bank post-Washington consensus. Rodrik argues that, in the World Bank at least, there has been an increased openness to more heterodox policy prescriptions. In the IMF, on the other hand, Rodrik argues that, while the old way of doing things has been replaced by a new approach, the new approach may well prove to be equally blinkered.

http://ksghome.harvard.edu/~drodrik/Lessons%20of%20the%201990s%20review%20_JEL_.pdf

(Added: Fri Feb 24 2006   Hits: 190)

The IMF: the Wrong Business Model - or the Wrong Business?

This Jubilee research paper argues that the IMF is facing growing financial problems given the trend of creditor countries to repay their debts and therefore reduce the amount of income the IMF receives. While some have asked whether the IMF now needs a new business model, this paper states that the real question is whether the Fund is, in fact, the wrong institution, doing the wrong job in the wrong way. Jubilee questions whether the IMF through its failure to adapt adequately or appropriately to the radical changes in the nature of the global economy since, outlived its usefulness in its present form?

http://www.jubileeresearch.org/latest/imf130106.htm

(Added: Thu Feb 02 2006   Hits: 187)

The IMF and capital flight: Redesigning the international financial architecture

This article by David Spencer (a senior adviser in Tax Justice Network) takes aim at the architecture of the international financial system arguing that the system at present facilitates tax evasion and capital flight. Spencer notes that tax evasion using international tax havens deprives the World's governments of tax revenue to the scale of $255 billion annually; approximately the same amount that it is estimated would be required to meet the Millennium Development Goals.

http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/article.shtml?cmd[126]=i-126-17f93f2679c816832a6e8f99a2b36037

(Added: Wed Feb 01 2006   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 325)

The Macroeconomics of Managing Increased Aid Inflows: Experiences of Low Income Countries and Policy Implications [pdf ]

Th IMF has long argued that inflows of aid can be inflationery. However a recent IMF report that investigates the macroeconomic challenges for low-income countries created by a surge in aid inflows has found that susbstantial aid increases can be controlled and need not be harmful. The paper examines possible policy responses to increased aid, and then applies this framework to the experience of five relatively well-governed countries that experienced a recent surge in aid inflows: Ethiopia,Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda.

http://www.imf.org/external/np/pp/eng/2005/080805a.pdf

(Added: Mon Jan 30 2006   Hits: 71)

Reforming the IMF: Back to the Drawing Board

This paper by Yilmaz Akyuz a Former Director, Division on Globalization and Development Strategies, UNCTAD argues that no sound rationale for the Fund to be involved in development and trade policy, or in bail-out operations in emerging market crises. It should focus on short-term counter-cyclical current account financing and policy surveillance. To be effective in crisis prevention it should help emerging markets to manage unsustainable capital inflows by promoting appropriate measures, including direct and indirect controls. It should also pay greater attention to destabilizing impulses originating from macroeconomic and financial policies in major industrial countries. Reform would need to address shortcomings in the IMF's governance structure, but the Fund is unlikely to become a genuinely multilateral institution with equal rights and obligations for all its members, unless it ceases to depend on a few countries for resources and there is a clear separation between multilateral and bilateral arrangements in debt and finance.

http://www.networkideas.org/featart/nov2005/Reforming_IMF.pdf

(Added: Fri Jan 13 2006   Modified: Tue Jan 24 2006   Hits: 83)

Square pegs, Round Holes [pdf 142.53 KB]

This Action Aid briefing paper states that there is a fundamental contradiction between the between the need to greatly scale-up social spending to fight HIV/AIDS and what can actually be spent under the IMF's current low inflation monetary policy. The briefing paper argues that more money needs to be spent on health care in order for developing countries to achieve the MDGs

http://www.actionaidusa.org/pdf/SquarePegRoundHole108pdf.pdf

(Added: Fri Jan 13 2006   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 232)

IMF Occupies Iraq, Riots Follow

By Matthew Rothschild January 3, 2006. Bad enough that the U.S. military is occupying Iraq. Now the IMF is occupying the country. In December, the International Monetary Fund, in exchange for giving a loan of $685 million to the Iraqi government, insisted that the Iraqis lift subsidies on the price of oil and open the economy to more private investment.

http://progressive.org/mag_wx010306

(Added: Mon Jan 09 2006   Hits: 60)

Driving Under the Influence: Senegal's PRSP Process [pdf]

When the debt crisis came to the forefront of global public attention at the dawn of the new millennium, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund responded with Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) as a condition for debt relief for the poorest countries. Senegal was among those countries required to draft a strategy detailing how the money the country would have spent servicing its debt could be spent in country to reduce poverty. This Social Justice Committee report highlights that concrete changes need to be made if PRSPs are to result in real progress toward poverty reduction and national control over development.

http://www.halifaxinitiative.org/updir/Senegal.pdf

(Added: Mon Nov 14 2005   Modified: Fri Feb 09 2007   Hits: 291)

Open on impact? Slow progress in World Bank and IMF poverty analysis

'Open on impact? Slow progress in World Bank and IMF poverty analysis' is a new report by Eurodad, Christian Aid, Save the Children and Trocaire. It focuses on poverty and social impact assessment (PSIA), a tool to clarify the potential outcomes of different policy choices on different groups in society, especially those who are poor and vulnerable. The resulting analysis should enable more open and informed decision-making that is driven and controlled by national policy-makers, rather than donors.

http://www.christian-aid.org.uk/indepth/510openimpact/index.htm

(Added: Tue Oct 25 2005   Hits: 71)

Money talks: How aid conditions continue to drive utility privatisation in poor countries

In this report ActionAid reveals that the World Bank and IMF are still blackmailing poor countries with aid money, loans and debt relief that are contingent on governments accepting highly specific economic reforms, such as the privatisation of water, electricity and other utility services. The report examines the impacts of utility privatisation in a number of countries and argues that it has not produced positive outcomes for the poor. It suggests that greater public sector accountability would better support services to the poor.

http://www.actionaid.org.uk/wps/content/documents/money_talks.pdf

(Added: Fri Oct 14 2005   Hits: 77)

Business as usual: The World Bank, the IMF and the liberalisation agenda [pdf] 627 KB

Christian Aid's new report warns against a complacent acceptance of the G8's statement in July 2005 that developing countries should have the right to set their own economic policies. It shows that despite previous commitments from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank to give poor countries more freedom to choose their own trade policies, little of substance has changed.

http://www.christianaid.org.uk/indepth/509condition/

(Added: Mon Sep 26 2005   Modified: Tue Aug 15 2006   Hits: 213)

Impoverishing a Continent: The World Bank and the IMF in Africa [PDF]

This report provides an overview of the World Bank, the IMF and structural adjustment and looks at the effects of conditions imposed by the World Bank and the IMF's SAPs, on Africa generally and on three African countries, Zimbabwe, Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire, in particular. (Asad Ismi, July 2004)

http://www.halifaxinitiative.org/updir/ImpoverishingAContinent.pdf#search=%22Impoverishing%20a%20Continent%3A%20The%20World%20Bank%20and%20the%20IMF%20in%20Africa%20%5BPDF%5D%22

(Added: Wed Sep 21 2005   Modified: Fri Sep 15 2006   Hits: 151)

Hoover Institution International Monetary Fund Website

This Hoover Institute website takes a close look at the IMF including its orgins, operations, financing initiatives and programs as well as issues of conditionality, reform proposals, abolishment and mission creep.

http://www.imfsite.org

(Added: Thu Apr 07 2005   Modified: Wed Jun 15 2005   Hits: 62)

Why It Matters Who Runs the IMF and the World Bank

CGD Working Paper 22, 01/01/2003. By Nancy Birdsall. Available in: PDF & Word Format. Increasing integration has made the great challenge of reducing poverty and advancing human development more achievable than ever, and more dependent than ever on good global economic governance. In this paper I set out the economic logic for why good global economic governance matters for reducing poverty and inequality and argue that a step towards better global governance would be better representation of developing countries in global and regional financial institutions. The Inter-American Development Bank, where the developing country borrowers control 50 percent of the votes and the Presidency, suggests some of the likely effects of better representation in ownership of economic and social programs supported by multilateral institutions, and on their overall effectiveness and legitimacy. I close with a discussion of the dilemma of reconciling the financial power and thus accountability of rich countries with stronger poor country representation.

http://ideas.repec.org/p/cgd/wpaper/22.html

(Added: Mon Mar 21 2005   Modified: Mon Sep 11 2006   Hits: 136)

International Monetary Fund World Bank Group 2004 Annual Meetings

IMF webpage providing coverage of the annual meetings.

http://www.imf.org/external/am/2004/index.htm

(Added: Wed Oct 06 2004   Modified: Thu Jun 16 2005   Hits: 78)

Africa fails in IMF vote demand

BBC, Monday, 4 October, 2004. Developing countries have failed in their bid to win more voting power for Africa at the IMF and World Bank. African leaders visiting Washington for the two organisation's meetings argued they have too little say in the running of the institutions. Europe has 10 seats on the IMF and World Bank boards - but Africa, which receives almost half of all loans from the two bodies, has only two.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3712718.stm

(Added: Tue Oct 05 2004   Modified: Wed Jun 15 2005   Hits: 100)

Statement by Hon Dr Michael Cullen at IMF AGM in Washington

Statement by the Hon. Dr. Michael Cullen, Finance Minister and Governor of the Fund for New Zealand, at the Joint Annual Discussion 04 October 2004.

http://www.beehive.govt.nz/Print/PrintDocument.aspx?DocumentID=21109

(Added: Tue Oct 05 2004   Modified: Mon Sep 11 2006   Hits: 84)

Growing Old Disgracefully - A case for radical reform of the World Bank and IMF at 60 (pdf 859k)

World Development Movement. This brief provides the WDM's agenda for changing the international financial institutions.

http://www.wdm.org.uk/campaigns/colludo/growingold.pdf

(Added: Wed Sep 29 2004   Modified: Wed Jan 10 2007   Hits: 192)

The IMF at 60: Evolving Role, Current Challenges

Remarks by Rodrigo de Rato, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. At the Breakfast Meeting with the Council on Foreign Relations, New York, September 20, 2004. "I have been quite fortunate in that the sixtieth anniversary of the IMF has energized a broad examination-inside the Fund, as well as among member governments and outside observers-of the strategic directions of the institution. These insights will be invaluable as the Fund looks to address the challenges created by an ongoing evolution of the global economy and financial system, by the demand for balanced development, and by the related need for critical thinking on how to shape new opportunities for low-income countries."

http://www.imf.org/external/np/speeches/2004/092004.htm

(Added: Wed Sep 29 2004   Modified: Wed Jun 15 2005   Hits: 99)

World Bank/IMF 2004 Annual Meetings: Information for Civil Society

Bank Information Centre, September 28, 2004. As civil society organizations prepare for events surrounding the World Bank/ IMF Annual Meetings (held in Washington, DC, October 2-3, 2004), the Bank Information Center (BIC) is again pulling together information from various networks on planned actions, seminars, workshops, visiting colleagues, and other relevant information.

http://www.bicusa.org/bicusa/issues/world_bank/1607.php

(Added: Wed Sep 29 2004   Modified: Tue Aug 15 2006   Hits: 148)

Report on the Evaluation of the Role of the IMF in Argentina, 1991-2001

Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) of the IMF, June 30, 2004. The Argentine crisis of 2000-02 was among the most severe of recent currency crises. With the economy in a third year of recession, in December 2001, Argentina defaulted on its sovereign debt and, in early January 2002, the government abandoned the convertibility regime, under which the peso had been pegged at parity with the U.S. dollar since 1991. The crisis had a devastating economic and social impact, causing many observers to question the role played by the IMF over the preceding decade when it was almost continuously engaged in the country through five successive financing arrangements.

http://www.imf.org/External/NP/ieo/2004/arg/eng/index.htm

(Added: Thu Aug 26 2004   Modified: Thu Jun 16 2005   Hits: 118)

On US Politics and IMF Lending (pdf)

Thomas Barnebeck Andersen, Thomas Harr, and Finn Tarp. University of Copenhagen. August 2004. The political factors, which shape IMF lending to LDCs, have attracted much attention. The same goes for the role and influence of the US. However, formal modelling is scant. In this paper, we assume that the US is principal within the IMF and seeks tomaximize its impact on the policy stance of debtor countries. We derive the optimal loan allocation mechanism, and test the hypothesis that the probability of an IMF loan is increasing in the amount of political concessions countries make. A political concession is defined as the distance between a country's bliss point and its actual policy stance measured relative to the US. We propose a bliss-point proxy and test our hypothesis in a sample of 68 countries during the period 1986-94. There is support for our hypothesis in the data. Finally, we show that omitting bliss points may lead to endogeneity bias in empirical work.

http://www.econ.ku.dk/wpa/pink/abstract/0411.pdf

(Added: Fri Aug 20 2004   Modified: Wed Jun 15 2005   Hits: 100)

World Bank and IMF Library Network

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund libraries work together to provide information services and resources to World Bank and IMF staff. This site provides publicly available library resources.

http://jolis.worldbankimflib.org

(Added: Fri Jul 23 2004   Modified: Tue Aug 15 2006   Hits: 141)

60 years of serving the poor?

World Vision New Zealand, 14 May 2004, by Simon Duffy. In the diamond anniversary year of the World Bank and the IMF, World Vision's Simon Duffy reflects on the history of two institutions that New Zealand taxpayers help to fund.

http://staging.worldvision.org.nz/news/archive/20040513_21.asp

(Added: Mon Jun 28 2004   Modified: Fri Aug 25 2006   Hits: 339)

Pages: [<<] 1 2 3 4 [>>]