IFI governance

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IEO: IMF reform implementation “not working well”

3 April 2013

The second external evaluation of the IMF’s Independent Evaluation Office (IEO), completed in January and discussed by the IMF board end March, evaluated how well the IEO has met its institutional mandate since 2006. The report concluded that the IEO had strengthened the IMF’s external credibility but saw room for improvement. This included revamping the process of board approval to reduce conflicts of interest for management and addressing “antagonistic” relationships between some management and IEO staff. The evaluation warned however that the process for implementing IEO recommendations, developed after the 2006 external evaluation (see Update 52 ), was “not working well.” It recommended that the mandate of “promoting greater understanding of the work of the Fund” should be dropped as it has become less important and “may be seen as inconsistent with the IEO’s independence and oversight functions.” The report also suggested increasing the IEO’s budget to enable the implementation of reforms.