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International Monetary Fund

2,550 bytes added, 11:12, 21 October 2012
The '''International Monetary Fund''' (IMF) is an [[international financial institution]] (IFI) which monitors the international financial system and provides loans to [[developing country]] member-states with balance-of-payments problems.
 
==Former Managing Directors==
Mr. [[Horst Köhler]] "was the eighth Managing Director of the IMF. He directly succeeded [[Michel Camdessus]], who retired from the IMF on February 14, 2000. Previous Managing Directors were [[Camille Gutt]] (Belgium, 1946-51), [[Ivar Rooth]] (Sweden, 1951-56), [[Per Jacobsson]] (Sweden, 1956-63), [[Pierre-Paul Schweitzer]] (France, 1963-73), [[H. Johannes Witteveen]] (Netherlands, 1973-78), and [[Jacques de Larosière]] (France, 1978-87)." <ref> [http://www.imf.org/external/np/omd/bios/hk.htm Horst Köehler], organizational web page, accessed September 20, 2012.</ref>
==History==
The Washington Consensus was so named because it was a common ideology of the IMF, World Bank and [[Department of the Treasury|US Treasury]] – all based in Washington – that markets, free from government intervention of any kind, held the key to development in rich and poor countries alike.
==Conditionality & Structural Adjustmentstructural adjustment==
The impact of the Washington Consensus has been felt mainly through the IMF’s increasing use of loan conditions (‘[[conditionality]]’) to force policy change in developing countries. The use of loan conditions can be traced to section 1(v) of the Fund’s Articles of Agreement, which encourages the IMF to make its funds “temporarily available . . . under adequate safeguards”. But while conditions had, in the 1950s and 1960s, been used to promote global financial stability (as per the IMF’s Articles of Agreement) in the late 1970s and 1980s, loan conditions began to be used as "[[structural adjustment]]" tools, and conditionality – structural change in client countries – became a central focus for the IMF’s work.
It appears some of the debt restructuring for IMF happens through Paris club and London Club. Paris Club is the name given to the arrangements through which countries reschedule their official DEBT; that is, money borrowed from other governments rather than BANKS or private FIRMS. The club is based on Avenue Kléber in Paris. Its members are the 19 founders of the OECD as well as Russia. Other institutions such as the WORLD BANK attend in an ­informal role. Rescheduling requires the consensus agreement of members and must not favour one CREDITOR nation over another. Private debt re­scheduling takes place through the London Club. [http://www.economist.com/research/Economics/alphabetic.cfm?TERM=POVERTY%20TRAP]
==Power Balances balances & Decisiondecision-Makingmaking==
From its beginning, the IMF was dominated by the rich industrialised countries - and particularly by the USA - which have tightly controlled the Fund’s agenda, both through the IMF’s formal decision-making structure, and through informal influence. Formal decision-making power in the Fund is held by two bodies: the Board of Governors, and the Executive Board. Everyday management of the Fund is the responsibility of the “Managing Director” – selected by and chair of the Executive Board. There is an unwritten agreement that every IMF Managing Director should come from Europe, and every first Deputy Managing Director is American. This has held true for the entire life of the Fund. Stiglitz points out that the managing director of the IMF is chosen “behind closed doors, and it has never even been viewed as a prerequisite that the head should have have any experience in the developing world.” (Stiglitz 2003, p. 19).
In contrast to democratic institutions, formal power on the IMF’s boards is distributed according to the economic power of its members. Voting is determined by “quotas”, which are in turn determined by the size of a country’s contribution ot the Fund. The USA – as the world’s largest economy – holds a significant 17 per cent of the total voting power. The [[G8]] – the group of eight powerful industrialised nations – controls a vote of 48% of the votes on the Fund’s board, leaving only 52 per cent for the other 176 IMF members. In stark comparison to the influence of the rich countries, the largest African member of the Fund – South Africa – holds just 0.87 per cent of the total voting power [http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/memdir/members.htm]. This political structure has allowed rich countries to effectively control the agenda of the IMF, and has denied a real voice to the poor countries which are the recipients of Fund policies.
==The IMF's PR ProblemsPublic relations problems and contracts==
In 2000 the IMF's Managing Director, [[Michel Camdessus]], stated that "We are not seen to be accountable, and some of our member governments from time to time find it convenient not to express their public support." At the time ''PR Week'' noted that "The McLean, VA-based [[Wirthlin Group]] conducted a global image survey for the IMF’s external affairs department, while [[Edelman]]'s DC outpost presented suggestions to the organization's executive board on ways to upgrade PR. The results of the survey and the recommendations, however, have not been revealed to the public."<ref> Steve Lilenthal, [http://www.prweekus.com/IMF-to-embark-on-PR-push-with-naming-of-new-head/article/38122/ "IMF to embark on PR push with naming of new head"], ''PR Week'', February 21, 2000.</ref>
In September 2008, the IMF retained the major PR firm [[Hill & Knowlton]] for one year, to boost the international financial institution's "global outreach." H&K's press release quoted CEO [[Paul Taaffe]] as saying, "The IMF plays a crucial role around the world working to stabilize financial markets. H&K's regional expertise and global network means the firm is ideally suited to support the IMF." The contract, for an unspecified dollar amount, is coordinated out of H&K's Washington DC office. [[Dave Robinson]], who heads the firm's Middle East & Africa work, "will lead an H&K team across the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia, while [[Glenn Schloss]], regional director for H&K in the Asia Pacific region, will oversee activity on the IMF program in the Far East." H&K will advise the IMF on "stakeholder outreach strategy for Asia and the Middle East, and on financial sector issues." The firm will also design "customized contact programs with key opinion formers, influencers and the wider financial and economic community." <ref>"[http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080922/ny34449.html?.v=1 IMF Turns to H&K for Global Outreach]," Hill & Knowlton press release, September 22, 2008.</ref>
==Personnel==
===Senior Officialsofficials===
Partial List: [http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/memdir/officers.htm Last Updated December 11, 2005]:<br>
*[[Rodrigo de Rato]], Managing Director (EU)
*[[Tom Scholar]] (UK)
== Articles and resources== ===Related SourceWatch Resources articles===*[[Michel Camdessus]] - Former Managing Director*[[Johannes Witteveen]] - Former Managing Director (1973-79)*[[Charles H. Dallara]]
*[[Federal Reserve System]]
*[[globalizationGlobalization]]*[[Hill & Knowlton]]
*[[Timeline to Global Governance 1800 to 1969]]
*U.S. [[Department of the Treasury]]
*[[World Bank]]
*[[Linah K. Mohohlo]]
*[[Bharrat Jagdeo]] -former chair board of governors
==Books=References===*[[Joseph E. Stiglitz]], ''Globalization and Its Discontents'', W.W. Norton & Company; 1st edition (April, 2003), ISBN 0393324397 (paperback). <references/>
=== External links =====Profilesresources===
*[http://www.wealth4freedom.com/truth/Bretton_Woods_System.htm The Bretton Woods System].
*[http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/groups.htm Fact Sheet: "A Guide To Committees, Groups, And Clubs,"] International Monetary Fund, September 2005.
*[[Joseph E. Stiglitz]], ''Globalization and Its Discontents'', W.W. Norton & Company; 1st edition (April, 2003), ISBN 0393324397 (paperback).
===Articles & CommentaryExternal articles===
*[http://www.economist.com/research/Economics/alphabetic.cfm?TERM=POVERTY%20TRAP Research Tools: Economics A-Z: "Paris Club,"] ''The Economist'', undated.
* Steve Lilenthal, [http://www.prweekus.com/IMF-to-embark-on-PR-push-with-naming-of-new-head/article/38122/ "IMF to embark on PR push with naming of new head"], ''PR Week'', February 21, 2000.
*Matthew Rothschild, [http://progressive.org/mag_wx010306 "IMF Occupies Iraq, Riots Follow,"] ''The Progressive'', January 3, 2006. See December 23, 2005, IMF Press Release [http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2005/pr05307.htm "IMF Executive Board Approves First Ever Stand-By Arrangement for Iraq."]
* Ted McKenna, [http://www.prweekus.com/IMF-issues-RFP-for-global-work/article/111203/ "IMF issues RFP for global work"], ''PR Week'', June 11, 2008.
* International Monetary Fund External Relations Department, [http://www.imf.org/external/np/pp/2007/eng/052907.pdf "The IMF’s Communication Strategy"], International Monetary Fund, May 29, 2007.
* International Monetary Fund, [http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pn/2007/pn0774.htm "IMF Executive Board Discusses the IMF's Communication Strategy: Public Information Notice (PIN) No. 07/74"], International Monetary Fund website, June 29, 2007.
* Ted McKenna, [http://www.prweekus.com/IMF-awards-contract-to-HK-expects-to-sign-second-agency-soon/article/115482/ "IMF awards contract to H&K, expects to sign second agency soon"], ''PR Week'', August 15, 2008.
 
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