China to Share Stewardship of Global Stability? via Global Development: Views from the Center
Former and Current Finance Officials Wring Hands over “Toothless and Biased” IMF via Global Development: Views from the Center
Assuring Developing Countries via Poverty News Blog
officials of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund went on record to say that developing countries will not be forgotten during the credit crisis.from Radio AustraliaWorld Bank head Robert Zoellick says they will not allow the crisis to put recent economic gains in the developing world at risk.He says governments must not reject commitments to boost overseas assistance to meet the Millennium Development Goals.IMF head, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, says the financial crisis adds to the existing problems of rising food and energy prices in poor countries.The banking system in poorer countries could face volatility because of links with banks in the developed world which have been pushed to the brink by the crisis destroying their capital.We will do some extra searching today to see... How the global credit crunch will effect Africa via Poverty News Blog
The International Monetary Fund released a statement yesterday on how the global credit crisis will effect Africa. We have heard plenty of how the rising prices of food and fuel have reversed gains on poverty reduction on the continent. Now the number crunchers are starting to analise how this credit crisis will hurt poverty efforts. This snippet comes from a press release from the International Monetary Fund. The press release helps to promote a report that the fund release on the subject. The quote is from Ms. Antoinette Sayeh, Director of the IMF's African Department.from the International Monetary Fund "The worsening macroeconomic situation reflects headwinds from strong increases in food and fuel prices, slower world growth, and global financial turmoil. So far, the main effects of... Getting Specific on who’s hurting with rising costs. via Poverty News Blog
Yes, the rising cost of food and fuel have hurt the whole world, even you and me. In fact, the big banks have said that the increases will push another 100 million into poverty. With meetings going on now with would financial leaders, lots of reports are beeing issued. This one caught our eye, that names specific countries that are the feeling the effects the worse. from ReutersAmong the "fiscally vulnerable" countries are Jordan, Cambodia, Lebanon, Jamaica, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Tajikistan, Madagascar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Rwanda, Malawi, Ivory Coast, Eritrea, Fiji, Haiti, Seychelles and Mauritania.The report, published ahead of weekend International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings of finance and development ministers, said many of these countries had little or no room to take on new... Africa growth to slow amid turmoil, inflation: IMF via Poverty News Blog
from Reuters Africa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Growing financial turmoil and rising food and energy prices are likely to slow economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa, with oil-producing countries least affected the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday.In its twice-yearly health-check of the world economy, the IMF said growth across the region should slow to 6.1 percent this year, rising to 6.3 percent in 2009, from nearly 7 percent in 2007.Oil producing countries will be only slightly affected, with growth easing to 7.5 percent from around 8 percent in 2007, the IMF said.Meanwhile, for countries that import oil the terms of trade will remain broadly the same this year, with higher oil prices offset by costlier export prices for metals, coffee, cocoa and cotton.In South Africa,... [comment] The World Bank and IMF response to the food crisis via Poverty News Blog
from the Bretton Woods Project By Nuria Molina, Eurodad and Bhumika Muchhala, Bank Information CenterAlthough conditions attached to food and fuel crisis lending are somewhat lighter, the Bank and the Fund should turn the crisis into an opportunity to learn that finance can be granted without the usual strings attached.At the Food Summit in Rome last June, world leaders pledged to "eliminate hunger and secure food for all, today and tomorrow". Today is quite a tight deadline. According to the UN World Food Programme, $755 million is required to immediately address hunger. But $15 - $20 billion would be needed to implement measures to resurrect the hollowed-out agricultural sectors of low-income countries.The World Bank came up with the Global Food Crisis Response Programme (GFRP) in May... Tuberculosis linked to International Monetary Fund loans via Poverty News Blog
from the New York Times Oh wow... how did I miss this one. Thanks to Blog The Debt for calling this to my attentionBy NICHOLAS BAKALARThe rapid rise in tuberculosis cases in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union is strongly associated with the receipt of loans from the International Monetary Fund, a new study has found.Critics of the fund have suggested that its financial requirements lead governments to reduce spending on health care to qualify for loans. This, the authors say, helps explain the connection.The fund strongly disputes the finding, saying the former communist countries would be much worse off without the loans.“Tuberculosis is a disease that takes time to develop,” said William Murray, a spokesman for the fund, “so presumably the increase in mortality rates must... IMF gives Haiti more aid to cope with rising prices via Poverty News Blog
from Caribbean 360 PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, July 14, 2008 -The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has given Haiti an additional US$26.5 million in assistance to help it cope with the impact of rising food and fuel prices, following its third review of Haiti's economic performance under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) arrangement.The completion of the review will enable the immediate disbursement of US$38.7 million."Despite numerous external shocks, including rising international commodity prices and inclement weather, as well as political difficulties, Haiti's performance under its PRGF-supported programme and progress in structural reform have been commendable," said the IMF's Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair of the Executive Board, Takatoshi Kato."However,... Oil, food price spikes may worsen global poverty: IMF via Poverty News Blog
from the AFP via Google WASHINGTON (AFP) — Rocketing oil and food prices are being felt around the globe and the surging inflationary pressures could worsen poverty, the International Monetary Fund warned Tuesday.A new IMF study, looking at the impact of soaring oil and food costs, said many poor and developing countries will likely have to adjust their economic policies in response to soaring commodity prices."Some countries are at a tipping point," cautioned IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn."If food prices rise further and oil prices stay the same, some governments will no longer be able to feed their people and at the same time maintain stability in their economies," Strauss-Kahn said.The IMF chief called for a "broad cooperative approach" to help tackle higher oil and...
IMF in Poverty Reduction via Poverty News Blog
from All Africa The Monitor (Kampala)NEWS24 June 2008Posted to the web 24 June 2008The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved about $1.8m for a poverty reduction facility in Rwanda. This money is usually released after the review of a country's performance under a three-year Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) arrangement.The PRGF is IMF's concessional facility for low-income countries. It is intended that PRGF-supported programs are based on country-owned poverty reduction strategies adopted in a participatory process involving development partners.In Rwanda the IMF has just completed its fourth review.A statement released from the IMF recently said the IMF executive board granted a waiver for the non-observance of a performance criterion on net credit to the... U.S. should lead institutions reform: Commonwealth via Poverty News Blog
from Reuters LONDON - The next U.S. president should take a lead in reforming the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank so they protect poor states and help them develop in a globalized world, the head of the Commonwealth said.Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma said the so-called Bretton Woods institutions should acknowledge the links between poverty, energy supply, the environment and food security -- and work to support marginalized states."The question of the leadership of America, and by America, of the whole multilateral system is an extremely important thing in the world today," said Sharma, a former Indian diplomat who became Commonwealth Head in April."If America leads the multilateral system, or gives indications that it is ready to do that as an equal but... IMF Works With Vulnerable States On Food Price Policies via Poverty News Blog
from All AfricaLeadership (Abuja)The IMF is working with vulnerable member countries to assess the fiscal, balance-of-payments, and income effects of higher food prices and of higher commodity prices more generally.Several countries have asked for extra financial support to cover higher food import costs, and an IMF mission will shortly travel to Haiti to review the country's need for increased financial assistance.External Relations Department Director Masood Ahmed recently told a news conference that the IMF is also "working with the member countries that are likely to be affected to assess the impact of the higher food prices, and of higher commodity prices more generally, on their balance of payments and fiscal situation."The impact of food price increases on the most vulnerable... [Comment] The IMF’s Going Down — Is that a Bad Thing? via Poverty News Blog
from Alert Net By Mark Weisbrot, 'The IMF is back," declared the International Monetary Fund's managing director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, at its annual spring meeting earlier this month in Washington. And not a moment too soon either. To hear the organization's economists tell it (as they mingled in five-star hotels, long black limos and posh restaurants with bankers, businessmen and finance ministers from around the globe), they've arrived on the scene just in time to help solve the world's financial crisis.But despite the bravado, the reality is that today's IMF is not what it once was. These days, the world's most famous deficit police force is running a whopping small-country-size $400-million annual deficit of its own and is being forced into some of the same kinds of "structural... [Comment] The IMF’s dwindling fortunes via Poverty News Blog
from the Los Angeles TimesThanks to disasters of its own making, the agency is losing money and influence.By Mark WeisbrotApril 27, 2008'The imf is back," declared the International Monetary Fund's managing director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, at its annual spring meeting earlier this month in Washington. And not a moment too soon either. To hear the organization's economists tell it (as they mingled in five-star hotels, long black limos and posh restaurants with bankers, businessmen and finance ministers from around the globe), they've arrived on the scene just in time to help solve the world's financial crisis.But despite the bravado, the reality is that today's IMF is not what it once was. These days, the world's most famous deficit police force is running a whopping small-country-size... Food prices could spark protectionism in Africa-IMF via Poverty News Blog
from Reuters By Daniel FlynnDAKAR, April 17 (Reuters) - High food prices are prompting African nations to impose protectionist measures which could reduce the already low levels of trade on the continent and harm its economic growth, an IMF official said on Thursday.Alex Segura, the International Monetary Fund's resident representative for Senegal and Gambia, said the Washington-based lender was concerned by the destabilising effects of the spike in living costs in Africa this year, after violent protests rocked countries from Mauritania to Cameroon.Guinea, where more than 130 people were killed in protests last year sparked by high food prices, on Tuesday banned the export of all types of foodstuffs, oil and timber in an effort to stabilise the cost of staple goods. The cost of rice in... Soaring food prices now top threat, IMF says via Poverty News Blog
from the Globe and MailKEVIN CARMICHAELWASHINGTON — The global food crisis has pushed aside fears of a recession and mounting banking woes as top priority for the world's economic leaders.Ministers representing 185 countries agreed on the weekend that soaring food prices threaten global calamity and pledged to co-operate on a solution to save the world's poorest people from starvation.But that solution remains elusive.The finance ministers and central bank governors who oversee the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank left Washington yesterday without a definitive response to agricultural prices that have surged 48 per cent since the end of 2006, sparking a wave of hoarding and riots throughout the developing world."If food prices go on as they are today, then the consequences... Malawi to maintain growth above 7 pct in 2008-IMF via Poverty News Blog
from the Guardian By Frank PhiriBLANTYRE, Malawi's real economic growth will remain above seven percent in 2008, boosted by high tobacco prices, aid inflows and fiscal discipline, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast on Sunday.In a statement released at the end of a final review of a so-called Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF), the IMF said Malawi's economic performance had encouraged it to discuss a new programme for the southern African country."Helped by sound policies, including better management of public spending, another good harvest, high aid inflows and high tobacco prices, real GDP growth is estimated to have been almost eight percent in 2007," IMF resident representative Maitland McFarlan in a statement."And it is estimated to stay above seven percent in... IMF Agrees on New Loan Program With Niger to Help Cut Poverty via Poverty News Blog
from BloombergBy Nasreen Seria The International Monetary Fund agreed with Niger's government on a new three-year loan program to boost economic growth and reduce poverty.The funds, under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility, need to be approved by the IMF board, the Washington-based lender said on its Web site today.Economic growth in Niger, one of the world's poorest countries with an annual per-capita income of $180, slowed to 3.2 percent last year after record grain production in 2006, the IMF said. The fund forecast in October that growth would accelerate to 5.6 percent in 2007 from 5.2 percent in the previous year.``Economic performance in 2007 was satisfactory,'' the lender said. ``Exports were buoyed by sharply higher prices for uranium, the main export commodity, and the... IMF Approves U.S.$1.5 Million Fund via Poverty News Blog
from All AfricaGhanaian Chronicle (Accra)NEWSBy Stephen Odoi-LarbiThe International Monetary Fund has approved US$1.5Million Fund to Niger, equivalent to SDR 940,000. After successfully completing the country's economic performance under three-year Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) arrangement last Wednesday.The approval of the fund brings to a total disbursement under the arrangement to SDR 25.38 Million (about US$40.4Million).In completing the review, the Executive Board of the Fund approved Niger's request for a waiver for the nonobservance of a continuous structural performance criterion on the application of the flexible pricing mechanism for petroleum products. The Board also approved Niger's requests for the modification of the quantitative performance criterion for...
IMF grants 2 mln usd to Kyrgyz under poverty reduction, growth facility plan via Poverty News Blog
from Forbes MUMBAI (Thomson Financial) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said it has completed the fifth review of the Kyrgyz Republic's economic performance under the three-year Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) arrangement, enabling the release of about 2 mln usd and bringing total disbursements under the arrangement to about 12.1 mln usd.The IMF has also approved the authorities' request to extend the PRGF arrangement until May 31, 2008, to allow for the completion of the sixth and last review.The Kyrgyz authorities have maintained firm macroeconomic policies, meeting the end-June 2007 quantitative targets under the PRGF-supported program. Their economic program for the rest of 2007 and 2008 aims at limiting the inflationary impact of the recent external shock from...
Bravo For New IMF Realism On Globalization And Inequality — And Three Comments via Global Development: Views from the Center
Bravo For New IMF Realism On Globalization And Inequality — And Three Comments via Global Development: Views from the Center
The IMF's 2007 World Economic Outlook has a chapter on inequality and globalization (Chapter 4), which concludes that globalization in the last two decades has contributed to increased inequality in most countries. Bravo to the IMF for daring to move, on globalization, from apparent unencumbered globaphile to concerned realist!
The analysis is creating some stir among economists (particularly in Chicago -- more on that below). The IMF analysis suggests that the culprit is not trade or foreign investment. Instead, increasing inequality is, as Simon Johnson, the IMF Chief Economist, nicely puts it "an unavoidable side effect from the spread of new technology globally, i.e., exactly what makes it possible for the world to grow so fast!"
I have three comments on what is...
IMF Announces Process and Profile for New Managing Director–World Bank Looks Stodgy By Comparison via Global Development: Views from the Center
Last Friday the IMF board announced that it would accept nominations to replace Rodrigo de Rato as the next Managing Director until August 31, a first and essential step in opening up the process of selecting the IMF leader. The board also announced the skills and qualities it seeks in the next Managing Director:
The IMF Executive Board has decided to adopt a process for selecting a successor to the current Managing Director, Rodrigo de Rato, by establishing a candidate profile and a selection procedure for the next Managing Director. Specifically:
"The successful candidate for the position of Managing Director will have a distinguished record in economic policymaking at senior levels. He or she will have an outstanding professional background, will have demonstrated the... UK has called for open selection process on IMF via Global Development: Views from the Center
Oops. When I posted yesterday, I hadn’t seen an FT article (UK Calls to Open up IMF Chief Selection) reporting that the UK was attempting to "apply the brakes" and not be pushed into a "quick decision" on a single EU candidate to head the IMF. In fact yesterday I asked Douglas Alexander, the new Minister of State of the UK (who by the way gave a terrific speech on multilateralism at the Council on Foreign Relations) about the position of the UK on selection of leadership at the World Bank and the IMF. While he begged off saying anything specific (he reminded the audience he is responsible for UK policy at the World Bank but not the IMF), he did reiterate the UK’s support for a more open, merit-based process. Independent of the merits of French nominee Dominique...
Europe’s Insistence on Naming European to Head IMF is Shortsighted via Global Development: Views from the Center
It's disappointing to see Europe attempting to preserve the outmoded mid-20th century custom of Europeans naming the head of the IMF, and in exchange letting the U.S. name the head of the World Bank. As the Economist today succinctly described, the quickly emerging European consensus on France's nomination of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a former finance minister of France:
The EU finance ministers said this week they would consider a more open process--but not until next time. Their reasoning was simple. The Americans got to pick one of their own to replace Paul Wolfowitz, ousted from the World Bank in May for personal indiscretions, so why should the Europeans give up their customary privileges first? Thus does the world of economic statesmanship resemble a playground squabble....
Macroeconomics and the MDGs via Global Development: Views from the Center
While participating in an interesting and thoughtful eDiscussion organized by the UNDP on Securing Fiscal space for the MDGs, I was struck by how much different approaches to the issue-say between the IMF and the UNDP-are driven by different implicit assumptions about the likely effectiveness of additional spending. Whatever you think about the usefulness of the MDGs as the basis for organizing a development strategy (see Michael Clements’ blog for a skeptical view) , how to manage the macro-fiscal challenges of scaling-up spending to meet social objectives is highly contentious. The IMF role, in particular, has been criticized by many.
I have been thinking about this a lot lately, drawing on my earlier experience as Deputy Director of the IMF Independent Evaluation... More Change on 19th Street: Rodrigo de Rato Leaves the IMF via Global Development: Views from the Center
Rodrigo de Rato's announcement Thursday that he will step down as Managing Director at the IMF following the Fund and World Bank annual meetings in October took almost everyone by surprise (see Washington Post article). The timing was especially puzzling, as the announcement comes just as much of Mr. de Rato’s reform agenda is moving from concept to reality. Mr. de Rato's aggressive pursuit of reforms at the Fund, both its governance and its substantive focus, has been a pleasant surprise to those who worried about just what he would bring to the IMF when he first took office. (Read more about CGD's July 2006 event, Renewing the IMF's Commitment to Low-Income Countries, with Rodrigo de Rato on reforming the IMF's commitment to low-income countries.)
From an institution...
CGD Senior Staff Among Signatories of Joint Letter on Leadership Selection Reform at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund via Global Development: Views from the Center
Several CGD senior staff, including CGD president Nancy Birdsall, are among the more than 160 senior development professionals and experts who have signed a joint letter urging reform of the leadership selection process at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Excerpts:
Paul Wolfowitz’s problems at the World Bank stem in part from a widespread perception that he disproportionately represents U.S. interests rather than objectives that command a global consensus. The root cause of that perception is an informal convention, established in the 1940s, that the U.S. government designates the president of the World Bank while European governments designate the IMF’s managing director.
In today’s world, that outdated convention should be abandoned and replaced...