Recent Developments
in IMF-CSO Relations
In this issue, the Civil Society
Newsletter takes a new step toward
providing a newsworthy account of the
International Monetary Fund's work from
the perspective of interaction with civil
society organizations. It is a mark of the
importance we attach to the Fund's
relations with civil society that we want
to offer a clear window onto our
activities. The stories in this issue
address some of the most important issues
facing the world economy, but try to do so
in a more concise and approachable style.
This approach to the Newsletter is just
one part of a broader, ongoing effort to
expand the Fund's involvement with civil
society.
In this regard, many readers will
recall that we sent out a special,
single-story
edition of the Civil Society
Newsletter in March to announce a project
aimed at enhancing the interaction of IMF
staff with civil society. This
project—whose main aim is to devise
practical, in-depth guidance to mission
leaders and resident representatives for
their relationships with civil society
organizations—is being assisted by Prof.
Jan Aart Scholte of the Centre for
Globalisation and Regionalisation at the
University of Warwick and a specialist in
the relationship of civil society with
multilateral institutions, particularly
the IMF. The lead feature article in this
issue of the Newsletter is an interview
with Prof. Scholte. The development of the
guide will be a central part of the
External Relations Department's work with
civil society in the coming months. Prof.
Scholte will be seeking input on his draft
paper from a range of civil society
organizations—especially in the global
South—in the coming weeks, and we expect
to post a revised version on our website (www.imf.org)
for comment later in the year. We look
forward to your comments and input as this
guide is intended to be updated regularly.
This issue also includes articles on
several key aspects of the Fund's work
over the past quarter: the April meeting
of the International Monetary and
Financial Committee; a recently released
Research Department study on financial
globalization and several important
meetings with civil society.
Back to Table of
Contents
Feature Article
An interview with Professor Jan
Aart Scholte
Prof. Jan Aart Scholte of the Centre
for Globalisation and Regionalisation at
the University of Warwick in Britain is
the author of " Civil Society Voices and
the International Monetary Fund,". He is
preparing a guide for IMF staff concerning
their relations with civil society
organizations (see
special edition of the Quartely Newsletter
for Civil Society). Scholte spoke
about the project during a March visit to
IMF headquarters in Washington to work on
the project. Excerpts:
Q: How long have you been
researching the relationship between the
IMF and civil society?
A: About eight years,
including fieldwork in Argentina,
Brazil, Canada, Egypt, the European
Union, India, Mexico, Romania, Russia,
Thailand, Uganda and the US. When I
first applied for a research grant in
1995 to look into this subject, contacts
between the IMF and civil society groups
were quite limited, particularly in
program countries, but my hunch that the
relations would increase has been borne
out.
Q: What is the point of trying to
improve relations between civil society
organizations and the IMF?
A: If we look at the politics
of governance of the global economy,
civil society is a growing force.
Contacts between civil society
organizations and global economic
institutions are growing as well. It is
important to make those relations as
constructive and positive as possible.
We're now at a point, after 10 or 15
years of increasing exchanges between
the Fund and civil society, that we can
take stock, assess good experiences,
evaluate unhappy experiences and learn
from them.
Q: You described in your report an
institutional culture at the IMF that
wasn't entirely open to dialogue with
civil society organizations. Has that
changed?
A: Somewhat to my own
surprise, most staff now do not question
the principle that the IMF should have
relations with civil society. Eight
years ago, the widespread view at the
Fund was that engaging with civil
society associations would alienate
government authorities and damage the
prospects of a successful program
implementation. Nowadays the widespread
view is that engaging with civil society
groups is part of building the political
ground for a constructive implementation
of programs.
Q: Then why is any guidance
needed?
A: The doing of it is far more
in question. IMF staff have a lot more
doubt, a lot more caution about whom to
meet from civil society, when to meet,
how to meet, where to meet. How can Fund
staff assure that they meet a wide array
of groups that will reflect various
views within the society that they are
trying to engage with? Should they talk
with groups only in the context of
program negotiations, or also in the
context of a mission visit or an Article
IV consultation? Or should they have an
ongoing discussion? When talking with
civil society associations, can Fund
staff get caught up in local political
conflicts that they don't understand?
There is general recognition at the IMF
of the diversity of situations and the
variability of situations that makes
relations with civil society
associations complicated. A guide can
help to clarify these complexities and
give staff more confidence in their
outreach to civil society groups.
Q: How long will the guide be?
A: At a guess, around 10 pages
- so it will be more than a paragraph
but less than a chapter. This is a guide
for everyday practical use by IMF staff.
It's not an academic essay and it's not
a dissection of the minutiae.
Q: What kind of contract do you
have with the IMF?
A: I am doing this work pro
bono, with payment only of expenses. It
seems to me that on a subject like this,
which is politically sensitive in many
peoples' eyes, you need to be - and be
seen to be - a facilitator of a dialogue
and an honest broker.
Q: How are you going about this
project?
A: What I have done this week
is talk with staff, while also trying to
collect various examples of happy and
unhappy experiences of relations with
civil society groups. And I've put to
staff for their reaction a draft outline
of what the guide might contain. I am
also asking for reflections on the
proposed outline from a group of around
30 civil society practitioners who have
experience in relations with
international financial institutions or
global governance agencies more
generally. This group has North-South
balance and gender diversity.
Q: The next step?
A: I will draft a note. That
draft will come back to the Fund in
early May when I will do a return visit
here. Likewise, there will be a second
round of input from the civil society
group on the fuller draft. In the middle
of the year or so, that ultimate draft
will be posted on the IMF website, at
which point all and sundry can also
throw in their views.
Q: After that?
A:. The exercise is not worth my time
if it doesn't have concrete impact. As a
first step, for example, I would suggest
that IMF Resident Representatives make
the guide the basis of a meeting with
prominent civil society groups in their
countries. The IMF would thereby get
feedback from the groups about how the
note might be adjusted or amended to fit
their circumstances. That would also
guarantee that a wide array of civil
society groups in program countries
become aware of the note and become
aware of the IMF's commitment to improve
relations with civil society groups.
Q: In what regions does the
IMF-civil society relationship matter
most?
A: In countries where the IMF
is an active participant in the
macroeconomic policy arena. And it's in
those countries where civil society
engagement with the IMF is often the
most underdeveloped. If these guidelines
were to end up being mainly discussed
and debated by civil society groups in
the North who already have the best
access, who already have the most input,
who already have the most influence,
that, to me, would be a regrettable
outcome.
Q: In how many parts of the world
do governments take a dim view of the
IMF consulting with civil society
organizations?
A: Certainly there are
instances where authorities have been
uncomfortable or downright opposed to
these contacts. But that wariness can
easily be exaggerated. There have in
fact been few cases where government
authorities have said outright that they
did not want Fund staff to engage either
with particular civil society groups or
with civil society in general. There are
other cases where governments will
subtly hint they are uncomfortable with
these consultations. But most
governments are far more accepting.
There could even be a tendency for some
IMF staff to use arguments about
purported sensitivities on the part of
the authorities as a rationalization for
their own disinclination to engage with
civil society groups.
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Contents
The Spring Meetings
Report from the International
Monetary and Finance Committee (IMFC)
The International Monetary and Finance
Committee (IMFC) held its
2003 Spring Meeting at a time of
uncertainty about the international
economy. The April 12 gathering of the
IMFC, which meets twice a year, came as
the war in Iraq was beginning to wind
down. But the end of fighting left many
concerns about the effects of the
conflict. The meeting dealt with these
issues, as well as with worries about the
status of the effort to assist the world's
poorest countries and the ongoing campaign
to devise better methods to prevent and
resolve economic crises.
The IMFC
communiqué, issued at the close of the
session, reaffirmed the IMF's commitment
to close international cooperation to
support the global recovery . "It is a
mark of the commitment of all that even in
these challenging and difficult times we
have been able to look beyond the here and
now in examining all the long-term issues
that the world economy faces," said Gordon
Brown, Chairman of the IMFC and U.K.
Chancellor of the Exchequer, at a press
conference after the meeting.
On postwar Iraq, the IMFC supported a
further UN Security Council resolution and
reaffirmed the role of the IMF and World
Bank in restoring "sustained economic,
social, and political development in
Iraq." The communiqué said both
institutions "stand ready to play their
normal role in Iraq's redevelopment at the
appropriate time." Asked at the
press conference to define "normal,"
IMF Managing Director Horst Köhler said
that the committee viewed its
responsibilities in Iraq in the same way
as it had approached post-conflict
projects in Kosovo, Afghanistan and East
Timor and elsewhere. Mr. Köhler said a
fact-finding mission could be sent to Iraq
when the situation on the ground is safe.
On the global economy, the IMFC called
on the advanced economies to undertake
policies that would "deliver strong growth
in the second half of the year." The
communiqué placed additional emphasis on
actions by the advanced economies that
would "address medium-term fiscal
pressures"—especially in the U.S.—and
enhance needed structural reforms in
Europe and Japan. The communiqué called on
emerging market countries to continue
developing their resilience to global
developments by strengthening
macroeconomic stability and pursuing
structural reforms.
For the low-income countries, the IMFC
said that prospects for stronger economic
growth "should be supported by improved
economic policies, stronger institutions,
progress in resolving regional conflicts,
and increased donor resources, including
through debt relief under the HIPC
Initiative." It said that the IMF
continues to play an important role in
helping lower-income countries make
progress toward meeting the Millennium
Development Goals. "The Committee
recognizes the urgent need to enhance
market access and to increase the level
and effectiveness of donor resources for
developing countries," the communiqué
said. The committee called on the IMF to
continue its work on
aligning poverty reduction strategy papers
(PRSPs), the Poverty Reduction and Growth
Facility, and individual country's
budgets. "This will be facilitated through
more realistic economic projections,
systematic analysis of the sources of
growth, effective Bank-Fund collaboration,
and flexibility in program design,
including to accommodate higher aid
inflows," the IMFC said. The Committee
also looked forward to the analysis of the
role of the IMF in low-income countries
over the medium term.
On the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries
initiative, the IMFC welcomed recent
additional progress on debt relief,
but also noted the delays that some
countries face in reaching the completion
point or in overcoming obstacles to
participation. The committee said it
looked forward to a review of these issues
that will be presented at its next meeting
in September in Dubai. The IMFC reaffirmed
the commitment to full funding of the HIPC
initiative, and welcomed the efforts by
some countries to provide additional debt
relief.
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Contents
Civil Society meetings with IMF
Staff during the Spring Meeting
- A Discussion on the Current
Status of HIPC: Masood Ahmed, Deputy
Director, Brian Ames, Advisor, and
Martin Gilman, Assistant Director from
the Policy Development and Review
Department represented the IMF at this
joint IMF and World Bank session. Gobind
Nankani, Vice President for Poverty
Reduction and Economic Management;
Vikram Nehru, Manager of the HIPC Unit,
Sudhir Shetty, Sector Manager for
Poverty Reduction; Victoria Elliot, and
Madhur Gautam, Operations Evaluation
Department (OED), represented the Bank.
Approximately 60 NGOs (35 attendees and
25 via video conference in Zambia,
Nicaragua, Honduras, Belgium, UK and
Ghana) participated.
The purpose of the meeting was to update
CSOs on the status of HIPC, provide
stakeholders in HIPC countries with the
opportunity to share their views and
experiences with Bank and Fund staff,
and give a brief overview of the World
Bank's OED study on HIPC.
- Fiscal Transparency: Bill
Allan, Section Chief, Fiscal Affairs
Department, IMF gave an overview of the
Code of Good Practices on Fiscal
Transparency and the progress being made
with country assessments of
transparency. Murray Petrie, consultant,
Fiscal Affairs Department reviewed the
role played by private sector financial
analysts and NGOs in using the
fiscal transparency code and
Reports on the Observance of Standards
and Codes (ROSCs).
Warren Krafchik, and Joel Friedman, both
from the International Budget Project
(IBP), discussed work to promote budget
transparency and public participation in
the budget process. Approximately 20 NGO
representatives attended the meeting.
Much of the information presented was
new to the participants but most agreed
it was an important area and said they
intended to follow it more closely. A
range of topics was covered in
discussion, including the extent to
which transparency assessments involved
CSOs and parliamentarians, whether
publication of ROSCs should be
publicized more within countries, and
the use of ROSCs for Fund
conditionality.
- An Update of the Sovereign Debt
Restructuring Mechanism (SDRM):
Approximately 15 NGOs attended this
session with Sean Hagan, Deputy General
Counsel, Legal Department. Participants
were mostly interested in learning
whether the Fund will continue pressing
for an SDRM, and raised questions about
CSO involvement in the SDRM discussions.
Mr. Hagan described the process under
which the SDRM was considered and
presented to the IMFC. Opposition came
mostly from the U.S. and several
emerging market countries. 70 percent of
the Fund's membership, in terms of
voting power, supported the initiative.
He stated it is unlikely that further
work will be undertaken at this stage
regarding the operational aspects of the
SDRM, but suggested the Fund will
continue discussing issues of general
relevance to a crisis resolution
framework.
In response to complaints about the role
of CSOs in the discussions, IMF staff
asserted that the process was open and
that the dialogue the Fund had initiated
with CSOs on the SDRM was unprecedented.
- Update on the Independent
Evaluation Office (IEO) Work Program:
IEO Director Montek Ahluwalia and Deputy
Director David Goldsbrough talked with
12 civil society representatives about
the IEO's work program, especially the
evaluation of PRSPs and PRGF currently
underway. Questions ranged from details
of the PRSP/PRGF study to the IEO
evaluation process and follow-up
studies. Ahluwalia stressed that the IEO
will not constantly monitor the whole
range of the Fund's work, but important
issues will re-surface in the context of
different evaluations. There is also the
possibility that certain follow-up
studies will be incorporated in future
IEO work programs, which are determined
on the basis of internal discussions and
broad based consultations.
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Contents
Globalization
Paper on financial globalization
The IMF recently published a
research paper discussing the effects
of financial globalization on developing
countries. The new study, "Effects of
Financial Globalization on Developing
Countries—Some Empirical Evidence", by
Eswar Prasad, Kenneth Rogoff, Shang-Jin
Wei, and M. Ayhan Kose contributes to a
more nuanced understanding of the role
played by international capital flows in
promoting development. It also contains
some important implications for the policy
framework of developing countries.
The study set out to answer the
following three questions:
- Does financial globalization promote
economic growth in developing countries?
- What is its impact on macroeconomic
volatility in these countries?
- What factors can help harness the
benefits of financial globalization?
Economic theory states that developing
countries can accrue large benefits from
financial integration. By opening their
economies to capital inflows such as
foreign direct investment, portfolio
investments, and bank borrowing, countries
not only encourage economic growth, they
also help stabilize consumption, which is
an important measure of economic
well-being.
What the study found was that this
theory doesn't always hold true in
practice. Even though income per capita is
higher for developing countries that have
more open economies, it is difficult to
find strong evidence that suggests this is
due to the fact that they have liberalized
their capital account. In fact, some of
these countries have experienced very
costly banking or currency crises, when
investors suddenly decided to withdraw
their money.
However—and this is important—the study
also found that once financial integration
crosses a certain threshold, the positive
effects of international capital flows
(cheaper access to capital, transfer of
new technology, development of the banking
system) begin to cancel out the negative
effects. Furthermore, countries with good
economic policies and low corruption stand
to gain from financial integration. These
countries do a good job at attracting
foreign direct investment, which is
especially conducive to economic growth.
In contrast, countries that are perceived
by investors as lacking in transparency
and/or as having poor economic policies,
tend to rely more on "hot money", such as
short-term bank loans, and less on foreign
direct investment. This makes them more
prone to crisis.
To give an example, financial
integration can encourage countries to
overspend. Access to world capital markets
makes it easier for governments to
borrow—often excessively and on a short
term basis. The accumulation of short-term
debt in foreign currencies makes such
countries more vulnerable to external
shocks or changes in investor sentiment.
However, such risks offer reason to
proceed with liberalization carefully;
they are not reasons for turning away from
it altogether. The IMF continues to
believe that developing countries can reap
significant advantages from opening up to
the outside world. In this respect, it is
important to keep in mind that this study
looked at only one aspect of
globalization—the role played by
international capital flows in the
economic development of developing
countries. Other aspects of globalization,
such as international trade and labor
mobility, were not included in the
analysis. An overwhelming majority of
research papers have found that trade
liberalization has a positive effect on
economic growth. The
financial-liberalization study therefore
should not be seen as providing an answer
to the broader question of whether
globalization is "good" or "bad" for
developing countries.
For more information on the IMF and
capital account liberalization, please
refer to:
-
Capital Account Liberalization and
Financial Sector Stability, Shogo
Ishii and Karl Habermeier, Occasional
Paper 211, IMF, Washington DC 2002.
-
Capital Controls: Country Experiences
with their Use and Liberalization,
Akira Ariyoshi, Karl Habermeier, et.
al., Occasional Paper 190, IMF,
Washington DC, 2000.
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Contents
Major Civil
Society-IMF Dialogue
IMF staff meets World Council of
Churches (WCC)
Representatives of the IMF and World
Bank and the World Council of Churches
sought common ground during a meeting in
Geneva in February. Structured as a
seminar, the session included
presentations and debates on growth
strategies and civil society's access to
policymakers.
One of the goals of the two-day
meeting, and others planned to follow over
a two-year period, was to find points of
common ground. The seminar grew out of an
exchange of letters aimed at establishing
a high-level dialogue last year between
Horst Köhler, managing director of the
IMF; James Wolfensohn, president of the
World Bank; and the Rev. Dr. Konrad
Raiser, general secretary of the WCC.
The discussions were broken down into
four sessions covering the evolution of
the mandates of the Bretton Woods
institutions and their views on
development; "the International Concept of
Wealth Creation and Social Justice";
privatization; and an assessment of the
dialogue experience.
Some criticism from the WCC side was
unsparing. During the session on wealth
creation and social justice, Pamela
Brubaker, a professor of Christian Ethics
at California Lutheran University,
insisted that the economic policies
promoted by the Bretton Woods institutions
have widened the gap between the wealthy
and the poor. She said she was not
persuaded by recent changes in their
poverty reduction initiatives. In her
view, the international financial
institutions are driven by the financial
interests of a small elite of corporations
and major countries.
But speaking at the same session, Peter
Heller, Deputy Director of the IMF Fiscal
Affairs Department, responded by
describing the way in which the IMF has
broadened its concern for poverty
reduction and job creation over the last
15 years. In the early 1990's, the Fund
sought to ensure that countries adopted
policies to prevent adjustment policies
from worsening the situation of the poor,
Heller said. Now, there is even more
emphasis on helping countries create jobs
that can bring households out of poverty
and supporting policies that help the poor
receive vital education and health
services, while still fostering growth and
macroeconomic stability. Heller emphasized
that the poor are the principal
beneficiaries of policies to restrain
inflation: unlike the rich and middle
income groups, they have no way of
avoiding a loss in real income. He also
noted that the major shareholders of the
Fund have strongly supported this change
in emphasis.
Brian Ames, an Advisor in the IMF's
Policy Development and Review Department,
updated the group on the Poverty Reduction
Strategy Paper process and its potential
for engaging civil society and broadening
debate on key issues of poverty. The same
session heard a highly critical
presentation by Patrick Bond of the
University of Witwatersrand on water
privatization issues in southern Africa.
The consensus among seminar
participants was that the WCC and the
Bretton Woods institutions have a common
commitment to fighting poverty. But many
WCC members say they share the perception
that they are excluded from the process of
defining development agendas.
They also share an interest in keeping
the dialogue going. A second seminar is
planned later this year in Washington.
Topics will include the participatory
process as part of the PRSP; the roles of
public and private sectors in the economy;
responses to globalization; and governance
of the Bretton Woods institutions and
member nations. Some participant churches
indicated that in the future they plan to
approach the dialogue by providing
practical suggestions and alternatives to
combating poverty, and perhaps bringing a
different mix of participants to the
event.
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Managing Director meets World
Vision president
As part of a continuing series of
meetings with NGOs that focus on the work
of the international financial
institutions, IMF Managing Director Horst
Köhler met in February with Dean Hirsch,
President of World Vision International, a
faith-based antipoverty and relief
organization
During the meeting, Hirsch emphasized
that all sides in the IMF/CSO dialogue
need to engage constructively and openly
as the Fund moves toward a more
transparent interaction with various
groups.
The meeting—which took place against
the background of the publication of the
World Vision discussion document "The IMF
and Civil Society: Deepening the Dialogue"
(available at
www.globalempowerment.org)—was a step
toward improving relations between the IMF
and civil society. Admonished in the past
for ignoring its critics, the Fund now
faces a different level of scrutiny. Alan
Whaites, World Vision's Director for
Policy and Advocacy, cautioned Köhler
against treating outreach to NGOs as "risk
management." He pointed out that some
meetings between the IMF and civil society
have resulted in both sides "talking past
each other," and urged the Fund to be more
open to NGO views.
Köhler said that the IMF sometimes
serves as a lightning rod for outrage
about all that is wrong in the world, and
suggested that complaints about lack of
access to the Fund sometimes ring hollow.
He said that talking to NGOs is now "a way
of life" and described the External
Relations Department's
current effort to assist Fund staff in
developing civil society outreach (see
interview with Prof. Scholte on page 3).
Hirsch said that in his role as
President of the Global Movement for
Children, he is responsible for
identifying ways to bring the
international financial institutions, the
UN and other organizations together to
help children on issues including
education and health. He suggested that
through this project he could find
opportunities to urge the Fund's regular
counterparts to engage more openly. Hirsch
also expressed interest in the Fund's work
on a review of the role of its resident
representatives stationed overseas in
member countries.
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Contents
Poverty
Lucerne CIS-7 meeting
The challenges facing the seven poorest
members of the Commonwealth of Independent
States in their long transition toward
economic development were the focus of a
January 2003 conference in Lucerne,
Switzerland.
Officials of the CIS-7 (Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyz Republic,
Moldova, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan)
attended the conference along with members
of civil society from their own countries,
officials of multilateral organizations,
donor countries and academics. Lively
debates at each of the sessions centered
on the role of the international community
during the early part of the transition,
the importance of country ownership, and
the need for improved cooperation in the
region.
The CIS-7 representatives said their
countries had received valuable financial
support and technical assistance from the
multilateral financial institutions. But
they also said the financing mix was too
weighted toward loans, arguing that the
loan-grant imbalance occurred in part
because the time that it would take to lay
the foundation for economic growth had
been underestimated. Marat Sultanov, a
parliamentarian from the Kyrgyz Republic,
said that with only limited grant
financing available, the countries had
little choice but to borrow in an attempt
to prevent living standards falling even
more sharply than they did in the early
years of the transition. The bottom line,
he said, was that the international
community had helped build debt as well as
government institutions.
The conference papers did not call for
fundamentally different approaches to
transition. However, several country
participants stressed that reforms could
only be implemented if they were "owned"
by the country. Yegor Gaidar, former Prime
Minister of Russia and now director of the
Moscow-based Institute for the Economy in
Transition, pointed out that Russian tax
reforms became reality only after Russian
officials themselves took the lead in
designing the initiatives.
Looking ahead, there was consensus
that, given their location and the small
size of their economies, the CIS-7
countries will need to focus on expanding
their trade. CIS-7 representatives agreed
with this notion and acknowledged that
trade is heavily constrained by ad hoc
tariffs, transit restrictions, and border
closures. But they also said that it is
essential to ensure improved access to
industrial country markets, especially in
the EU.
The conference ended on a relatively
positive note. Despite the long road
ahead, the recent pickup in growth in most
of the countries had resulted in
reductions in poverty rates suggesting
that the countries were heading in the
right direction.
All the papers from the conference are
available at the
CIS-7
Initiative website, in both English
and Russian.
Back to Table of
Contents
Letters from the
Field
Susan Adams, Senior Resident
Representative, IMF Vietnam
On March 12 I was invited to speak to
the Development Cooperation Committee
(DCC) of Hanoi, comprised of NGOs and
other members of civil society. Vietnam
has over 350 international NGOs, who are
coordinated in part by the
Vietnam NGO Resource Center.
I challenged the participants to
"connect the dots" between their efforts
on the ground and the macro-policy focus
of the IMF. The game is to see in how many
dots, or connections, a given NGO activity
can be linked with an IMF topic of
interest. For example, several NGOs in
Vietnam are involved in rural
micro-credits and micro-lending to small
businesses. While micro-lending is not a
routine topic in the policy dialogue of
the IMF with the State Bank of Vietnam
(SBV), it is on the "radar screen" now
because the Asian Development Bank (ADB)
in Vietnam is sponsoring a technical
assistance project to write supervision
manuals for the SBV on micro-lending
activities.
Another example: a UNESCO team recently
visited Vietnam to study the potential for
eco-tourism in Halong Bay (a natural
wonder in the north part of the country).
The UNESCO representative started off by
apologizing for meeting the IMF, which he
was sure had no interest in eco-tourism,
but was on the schedule of meetings
anyway. To the contrary, we "connected the
dots" in three steps: one, eco-tourism is
not only environmentally important to all
of us, but also helps generate tourism
generally; two, tourism has many linkages
to economic development across sectors,
generating growth and poverty reduction;
and three, tourism generates foreign
exchange earnings for Vietnam, which
directly links to the reserves strength of
the State Bank of Vietnam.
The bottom line: We are more connected
to each other than we realize!
For more information about the IMF in
Vietnam, see our
website which includes a link to the
full presentation to the DCC.
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Lorenzo U. Figliuoli, Senior
Resident Representative, IMF Ukraine:
Under the umbrella of the UN family, we
participated in monthly meetings of the
Youth Initiative organized by various UN
agencies. This project aims at
establishing the content and the form of
the UN Youth Summit scheduled for July
2003. The summit's aims include:
empowering young people to gather the
skills necessary for participation in
public life; equipping them with the
skills to work with government;
encouraging the voices of young people to
be heard at all levels of decision-making;
discussing the Millennium Development
Goals (MDG) in the framework of new
legislation to be enacted by the
government; and including the voices of
young people in this legislation and
policy development.
In order to achieve these goals, the
summit will serve not only as a forum for
discussion, but also as an organizing
device for practical action on a number of
issues, including achieving progress
toward the MDGs; encouraging reproductive
health and healthy lifestyles, family,
health and responsible male behavior; and
eliminating the worst forms of child
labor.
We try to make sure that the relevant
budgetary allocations—on health and
education, for instance—are being spent as
intended and that funding is adequate,
given overall constraints. We also try to
verify that youth rights are respected in
the newly adopted civil and economic
codes. More generally, together with other
donors, we monitor whether the authorities
follow a public and transparent process
when accounting for the views of civil
society on a wide range of policy issues.
See the
IMF Resident Representative office website
for more information.
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Bulletin Board
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website, please sign up for email
notification through our
website notification system.
Other recent meetings between IMF
staff and CSOs
- Donal Donovan, Deputy Director of
the IMF African Department, attended the
Conference on "A New Dawn for Africa—Who
is supporting the New Partnership for
Africa's Development (NEPAD)" in Berlin,
Germany on January 14-15. It was
organized by InWent, Capacity
Building International, and attended by
parliamentarians of over 20 African
countries, 7 NGOs/research institutions
and the German overseas development
community. Two specific issues dominated
the discussion: 1. Good governance and,
in particular, the possible role of the
African Peer Review mechanism and 2.
Efforts to improve peace and security in
Africa.
- On January 16, the IMF's External
Relations Department (EXR) organized a
meeting at IMF headquarters in
Washington, DC, which was open to Fund
staff, with Professor Jan Aart
Scholte of the University of Warwick
to discuss his paper, "Civil Society
Voices and the International Monetary
Fund" (Ottawa: North-South Institute,
May 2002). Michael Bell, Chief, EXR
Policy Communication Division chaired
the session, which drew 22 people, a mix
of economists, EXR staff members, and
two Office of the Executive Directors
(OED) staff members. See interview with
Prof. Scholte on page 3.
- On January 17, the World Bank ECA
(Europe and Central Asia) NGO
Working Group met with IMF staff
from the External Relations Department,
European 1 and 2 Departments and the
Policy Development and Review Department
staff at IMF headquarters in Washington,
DC. The meeting's purpose was to
initiate contact between the group and
Fund staff and talk about future
collaboration. Issues discussed included
IMF and World Bank interactions with
CSOs, differences between the IMF and
WB, the economic situation of the ECA
region, IMF Resident Representative
offices in the region, non-technical
language of Fund documents and documents
in languages other than English.
- On January 30-31 Sérgio Pereira
Leite from the IMF office in Paris
participated in a Colloquium on the
Local Ownership of Public Aid organized
by "Coordination pour la Dignité
Humaine", an umbrella organization
of human rights groups. The Colloquium
took place in Namur, Belgium.
- On February 12, Alan Whaites,
Director for Policy and Advocacy at
World Vision International,
was the speaker at a IMF staff
Discussion group at IMF headquarters in
Washington, DC on "Why Should Fund Staff
Spend Precious Time with Civil Society
Organizations?". At the initiative of
Michael Bell, Division Chief, EXR Policy
Communication Division, he provided the
group with outside views.
- On February 21-22, First Deputy
Managing Director Anne Krueger provided
a keynote address at a conference on a
Sovereign Debt Restructuring Mechanism
(SDRM) in Berlin, organized by the
Development Policy Forum of InWEnt,
Capacity Building International, the
German Ministry for Economic Cooperation
and Development , the Ministry of
Finance , and the Fund. Topics discussed
included development policy dimensions
of the SDRM; legal approaches and
procedures; institutional proceedings
and framework and debt sustainability.
- On March 4, Axel Palmason, Senior
Economist at the IMF's United Nations
Office (UNO), participated in a
briefing on the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) in New York. It was
organized by the NGO Section of the
United Nations (UN) Department of Public
Information, bringing together
perspectives from the UN Development
Program (UNDP), the European Commission,
the World Federation of UN Associations,
and the IMF. NGOs welcomed the news that
the IMF Managing Director has advocated
strongly for the two-pillar, Monterrey
Consensus-based approach, and that the
International Monetary and Financial
Committee (IMFC) supported the IMF's
role in helping poor countries meet the
MDGs.
Axel Palmason also participated in civil
society and business hearings at the UN
in New York on March 20-32, in
preparation for the dialogue between the
Economic and Social Council, the
Bretton Woods Institutions and the World
Trade Organization, scheduled for April
14. Civil society representatives
discussed the implications of war in
Iraq for the poverty agenda and the
apparent lack of political will to meet
the MDGs.
- On March 6, Horst Köhler and IMF
staff met at IMF headquarters in
Washington, DC with members of the
German Evangelical Church (EKD).
Topics covered included Argentina, IMF
agenda and the IMF as an evolving
institution.
- On March 9, Horst Köhler attended
the fourth annual conference of the
Parliamentarian Network on the World
Bank (PnoWB) Meeting in Athens,
Greece. Mr. Köhler
spoke about the global economic
outlook, globalization, the IMF in the
process of change, and the IMF as a
learning institution, in front of 140
parliamentarians. The External Relations
Director Thomas C. Dawson participated
in a session on March 10 on the
Sovereign Debt Restructuring Mechanism
(SDRM) and the Heavily Indebted Poor
Countries (HIPC) Initiative. The
conference can be watched via web cast
on the
PNoWB's website. An article on the
conference can be found in the
IMF Survey, March 31 edition on page
89.
- On March 24, the IMF's External
Relations Department provided space at
IMF headquarters in Washington, D.C. for
a meeting organized by the New Rules
for Global Finance Coalition and the
Center of Concern on "A New
Voting Rights Act for the IMF and World
Bank?" discussing governance issues of
the IFIs.
- On March 28, civil society
representatives met in Washington with
the World Bank Sri Lanka team (Peter
Harrold, Country Director; Debbie
Bateman, Country Coordinator; Tara
Vishwanath, Lead Poverty Specialist for
South Asia; and Marinela Dado, Country
Officer) as well as Janghir Aziz from
the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department
and IMF External Relations staff to talk
about the Sri Lanka PRSP. NGO
concerns centered on formulation and
content of the PRSP, especially in
relation to labor's involvement in the
consultation process.
- On April 11, civil society
representatives met in Washington with
the IMF Mission Chief and senior
economist for Senegal to discuss
the status of that country's PRGF and
related problems with it. Additionally,
they asked about the delays related to
the PRSP, and complained the process has
not been participatory and discussed
ways to incorporate CSO views in the
future.
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Current and Upcoming Events
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Contents
Selected Speeches
-
Fostering Sustainable Growth in Latin
America — Key Challenges, speech by
Horst Köhler, Managing Director of the
International Monetary Fund, Given at
the 33rd Washington
Conference of the Council of the
Americas, Washington DC, April 29, 2003
-
The Need to Improve the Resolution of
Financial Crises: An Emerging Consensus?
address by Anne Krueger, First Deputy
Managing Director, International
Monetary Fund, To the Harvard University
Business School's Finance Club, Boston,
March 27, 2003
-
Transparency and the IMF, Toward Second
Generation Reforms, by Thomas C.
Dawson, Director of External Relations,
International Monetary Fund, Prepared
text for remarks to Nordic and Baltic
Monetary and Financial Committee,
Tallinn, March 17, 2003
-
Globalization, the Transition Economies,
and the IMF, by Thomas C.
Dawson, Director of External Relations,
International Monetary Fund, Background
text for remarks to the IMF Seminar for
Parliamentarians from Transition
Economies, Joint Vienna Institute,
Vienna, March 14, 2003
-
Sustaining Global Growth and the Way
Forward for Latin America, remarks
by Horst Köhler, Managing Director of
the International Monetary Fund, At the
Bank of Spain, Madrid, March 11, 2003
-
Asia—Economic Outlook and Policy
Challenges, remarks by David Burton,
Director, Asia and Pacific Department,
International Monetary Fund, to the
Singapore Press Club and the Singapore
Foreign Correspondents' Association
,Singapore, March 5, 2003
-
Current Issues in the Design and Conduct
of Monetary Policy, by Mohsin S.
Khan, Director, IMF
Institute, International Monetary Fund,
presented at the RBI/IGIDR Fifth Annual
Conference on Money and Finance in the
Indian Economy, Mumbai, India, January
30, 2003
-
Global Finance—Operating in a
Politicized World, New Rules, New Game?Speech
by Jack Boorman, Special Advisor to the
Managing Director, International
Monetary Fund, Given at the Banker's
Association for Finance and Trade, 20th
Annual Midwinter Strategic Conference,
Washington DC, January 28-29, 2003
-
Hopes and Fears: The Global Outlook,
Asia, and the IMF, remarks by Thomas
C. Dawson, Director, External Relations
Department, International Monetary Fund,
Prepared text for remarks at Foreign
Correspondents Club, Hong Kong, January
8, 2003, and Singapore International
Chamber of Commerce, January 9, 2003
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Contents
Selected Publications
-
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC)
Initiative—Statistical Update,
prepared by the Staffs of the World Bank
and IMF, March 10, 2003
-
Enhanced HIPC Initiative—Creditor
Participation Issues, prepared by
the Staffs of the World Bank and IMF,
April 8, 2003
-
The Impact of External Indebtedness on
Poverty in Low-Income Countries, by
Boileau Loko, Montfort P. Mlachila, Raj
Nallari, Kadima D. Kalonji, Policy
Development and Review Department,
Series: Working Paper No. 03/61
-
International Standards: Background
Paper on Strengthening Surveillance,
Domestic Institutions, and International
Markets, prepared by the Policy
Development and Review Department, March
5, 2003
-
Poverty and Social Impact Analysis -
Linking Macroeconomic Policies to
Poverty Outcomes: Summary of Early
Experiences, by Caroline M Robb,
African Department, Working Paper No.
03/43
-
A Currency Union for the Caribbean,
by DeLisle Worrell, Monetary and
Exchange Affairs Department, Working
Paper No. 03/35
-
Income Inequality and Redistributive
Government Spending, by Luiz R. De
Mello Jr., Erwin H. Tiongson, Fiscal
Affairs Department, Working Paper No.
03/14
-
Small African Stock Markets—The Case of
the Lusaka Stock Exchange, by
Heloisa Marone, African Department,
Working Paper No. 03/6
-
Currency Demand, the Underground
Economy, and Tax Evasion: The Case of
Guyana, by Ebrima A. Faal, Western
Hemisphere Department, Working Paper No.
03/7
-
A Comparison Between Two Public
Expenditure Management Systems in Africa,
by Ian C. Lienert; Fiscal Affairs
Department, Working Paper No. 03/2
-
Imperfect Competition and the Design of
VAT Regimes: the Case of Energy Trade
between Russia and Ukraine, by
Clinton R. Shiells, European I
Department, European II Department,
Working Paper No. 02/235
-
Cross-Border Issues in Energy Trade in
the CIS Countries, by John R.
Dodsworth, Paul H. Mathieu, Clinton R.
Shiells, European II Department, Policy
Discussion Paper No. 02/13
-
Monetary Union in West Africa: Who Might
Gain, Who Might Lose, and Why?by
Xavier Debrun, Paul R. Masson, Catherine
A. Pattillo, Research Department,
Working Paper No. 02/226
-
Central American Tax Reform: Trends and
Possibilities, by Janet G.
Stotsky, Asegedech WoldeMariam, Fiscal
Affairs Department, Working Paper No.
02/227
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