IFI governance

News

Structural adjustment for IMF cafeteria

26 May 2003

For years, IMF staffers, some of Washington’s highest-paid workers, have been enjoying haute cuisine at cut-rate prices. Frugal friends from the World Bank have also been spotted at the Fund trough since their subsidized lunch was axed in 1995. In the spirit of Labour Day solidarity, the IMF stopped subsidising the food at its cafeteria on May 1. “With this bitter pill, the fund is getting a taste of its own medicine,” the February issue of the IMF Staff News lamented. But don’t send your donations of canned goods to the IMF food drive just yet – in addition to generous pay rates, monetary allowances for spouses, tuition for children’s private schooling, air fares home and a host of other perks, many IMF staffers also pay no income taxes.