Bretton Woods Project - Critical voices on the World Bank and IMF

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IMF—International Monetary Fund

The IMF, an international organisation with 184 member countries, was established in 1944 to promote international monetary cooperation, exchange rate stability, and orderly exchange arrangements; and to provide temporary financial assistance to countries to help ease balance of payments adjustment. Based in Washington D.C. the managing director (traditionally a European national) is Dominique Strauss Kahn; the Fund currently has 2,693 staff from 141 countries; and 75 countries owe the Fund around $34 billion. Its operations include surveillance (of member countries economies and the global economy), technical assistance and financial support. The latter is provided in the form of loans to which conditions are attached. read more background...

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The IMF's policy advisory role to the G20

Inside the inst|Bretton Woods Project|25 June 2010|url

The G20 has turned to the IMF to operate as a research and advisory body on their behalf since those governments’ leaders first met in November 2008. The IMF’s work in this area has mainly fallen in three areas: technical advice, surveillance, and research. read article...

IMF grants Antigua loan amid controversy

News|Bretton Woods Project|18 June 2010|update 71|url

The IMF has faced increased political pressure to refuse a $118 million loan to Antigua and Barbuda following the government’s seizure of assets belonging to Allen Stanford, former head of the now fallen Stanford Investment Bank (SIB). read article...

Pakistan running from the IFIs

News|Bretton Woods Project|18 June 2010|update 71|url

The Pakistani government is facing increased pressure from the IMF to meet the requirements of its financial stabilisation programme, agreed in 2008, including the full implementation of a value added tax (VAT) and specific foreign borrowing targets. read article...

The Greek crisis and the involvement of the IMF

Comment|Elena Papadopoulou|17 June 2010|update 71|url

The “Greek expression” of the crisis has revealed an amazingly broad range of issues not only concerning the structural problems of the Greek economy, but also those of the European Union (EU) as an economic and currency area, and its unwillingness or inability to react to the problem in a timely, meaningful and collective way. read article...

Debt crisis in Europe: Beware IMF bearing gifts

News|Bretton Woods Project|17 June 2010|update 71|url

The descent of Greece into a sovereign debt crisis marks the first time a country that uses the euro has gone to the IMF. The fear of adverse market reaction has now moved Europe towards greater coordination and the G20 to argue against continued fiscal stimulus. read article...

IMF's latest prescription: Cure the crisis with austerity

News|Bretton Woods Project|17 June 2010|update 71|url

The IMF has gone back to promoting fiscal austerity and pressuring governments to implement spending cuts and structural reforms. Austerity also remains at the heart of the Fund's debt sustainability policies. read article...

IMF bank tax proposals cause controversy

News|Bretton Woods Project|17 June 2010|update 71|url

A leaked copy of the IMF's report to the G20 on A fair and substantial contribution by the financial sector which proposes two new financial sector taxes to cover some of the costs of the financial and economic crisis, has been criticised by campaigners for inadequate analysis of the potential of the financial transactions tax (FTT), dubbed the Robin Hood tax. read article...

IFI governance reform freezing over?

News|Bretton Woods Project|17 June 2010|update 71|url

An in-depth analysis of the latest round of World Bank reforms shows they delivered significantly less than proclaimed, while IMF governance reforms, slated to conclude in January 2011, are proceeding slowly and promising only minor changes. read article...

Zimbabwe turns to the IMF

News|Bretton Woods Project|17 June 2010|update 71|url

In March the Zimbabwean cabinet agreed to a new debt relief strategy that includes recourse to the IMF and World Bank's Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. read article...

The IMF's framework for low-income countries

Inside the inst|Bretton Woods Project|17 June 2010|update 71|url

In the midst of the global financial and economic crisis the IMF amended its lending framework for low-income countries (LICs). It now has three main instruments for LICs – the Extended Credit Facility, the Standby Credit Facility and the Rapid Credit Facility. The three different programmes are subsidised by the newly created Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT). The IMF also engages with LICs through non-financial facilities, especially the Policy Support Instrument (PSI) and the Staff Monitored Programme (SMP). read article...

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Recent briefings & reports

IMF mandate needs fundamental rethink 11 May 2010

Fundamental change or more of the same?: A review of G20 progress towards UK civil society recommendations  22 April 2010

The UK's role in the World Bank and IMF: Department for International Development and HM Treasury  26 March 2010

Dólares, devaluaciones y depresión : de cómo el sistema monetario internacional crea las crisis  22 October 2009

Dollars, devaluations and depressions: How the international monetary system creates crises  23 September 2009

IMF financial package for low-income countries: Much ado about nothing? 7 August 2009


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