Reform of the IMF stood at
the center of the 2006 Spring Meetings,
held in Washington, D.C., in late April. The International
Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC), the primary
advisory committee of the Fund's Governors,
supported Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato's vision
for the organization, which was laid out in his recent
report on
Implementing the Fund's Medium-Term Strategy. The IMFC
also called on the Fund to make new efforts—including new
multilateral consultations—to encourage actions related to
global imbalances.
IMF staff will now work on
implementing the proposals and undertake the preparatory
work for the September Annual Meetings in Singapore, which
IMFC Chairman Gordon Brown has declared will become a
Reform Summit. One prominent item on the agenda for
Singapore is Voice and Representation, an issue that has
long been addressed by civil society organizations (CSOs).
The IMFC endorsed the exploration of a two-step process
designed to realign voting rights at the Fund.
"Since its origin 60 years
ago, the IMF has had to cope with the fast-changing forces
at work in the global economy, originally having to cope
with sheltered, protected, and closed economies, and
temporary support for balance of payments issues," Brown
said at a recent
press conference. "We recognize today that the IMF
must now cope with open, not closed, economies; with
international, not regional, flows of capital; and the
reforms we have agreed...are designed to equip the IMF
best for these future challenges."
With accreditation for CSOs
attending the Singapore meetings in early June, a
related article provides information
on preparatory activities. This edition's
Letters from the field offer a
cross-section of the Fund's most recent country outreach.
By Masood Ahmed
Masood Ahmed is Director
of the IMF's External Relations Department. Before taking
up that post on May 1, he served for three years as
Director General for Policy and International Development
at the UK Government's Department for International
Development. From 2000 to 2003, Ahmed was Deputy Director
in the IMF's Policy Development and Review Department,
focusing on the Fund's policy work in support of low-
income countries as well as its relationship with the
World Bank and other development agencies. He held a
number of positions at the World Bank between 1979 and
2000.
***
I return to the IMF as
Director of the External Relations Department at a time of
reform, as this newsletter makes clear in its discussion
of the medium term strategy. But the Fund also has changed
significantly in the three years that I have been away,
not least in the IMF's relationship with civil society.
Working on development
issues within a donor government provided a unique
perspective on the issues that the IMF is called upon to
address as part of its mandate. It also offered a unique
view of civil society organizations and their relationship
with the Fund. This relationship has not always been easy
for both sides, so it has been very encouraging to see how
much the dialogue has evolved and improved. Dialogue with
civil society offers opportunities to dispel public
misconceptions about the Fund and its activities; it also
enables Fund staff to have a clearer understanding of the
policy issues they address. There has been an important,
ongoing discussion of several key issues, especially the
Fund's role in the process of scaling up aid to developing
countries and the nature of its macroeconomic advice to
those countries. I believe that that discussion has borne
fruit in many ways. There is no question that Fund staff
is paying close attention, and we see some of the Fund's
policies and programs being adapted in response.
I am aware that mistrust
still exists, but both sides seem to be making a serious
effort to listen to each other—in many settings.
Interaction with labor unions, faith-based groups, and
other forms of nongovernmental organizations has become an
integral part of our work. Country teams in every region
of the world increasingly engage in such consultations.
Their work is based on the
Guide for Staff Relations With Civil Society Organizations,
while there is always room for improvement, it is striking
to me that so many of our teams now take civil society
interaction so seriously.
Going forward, I believe
that input from civil society will become even more
important to our work. I can assure you that the IMF's
External Relations Department will make every effort to
foster and facilitate the dialogue. For my part, I look
forward to playing a constructive role in that process,
renewing old friendships, and making new ones.
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Report from the International
Monetary and Finance Committee (IMFC)
IMF Managing Director
Rodrigo de Rato won global backing at the Fund's 2006
Spring Meetings for his strategy to reorient the
organization's work to better meet the demands of a
globalized world economy. The International Monetary and
Financial Committee (IMFC), the primary advisory committee
of the Fund's Governors, supported the Managing Director's
medium-term strategy and called on the IMF to make new
efforts—including new multilateral consultations—to
encourage actions to address global economic imbalances.
The IMFC
communiqué also asked de Rato to make concrete
proposals to bring quota distribution and voting shares at
the Fund into line with current realities in the world
economy. The Managing Director has been asked to explore a
two-stage approach to the issue that would involve ad hoc
quota increases for the most under-represented members in
the near term, followed by more comprehensive reforms at a
later stage. Agreement on an increase in basic votes,
which is key for strengthening the voice of the smallest
members, could be part of the final reform package.
The April 22-23 meetings of
the IMFC and the joint World Bank-IMF Development
Committee took place at a time of continuing resilience
and strength of the global economy. However, sharply
higher oil prices and large and widening current account
imbalances—discussed at a Global Imbalances Conference
held at the IMF on April 21—lent urgency to calls for
policymakers to shake off complacency and take actions to
reduce risks to sustained global growth. The IMFC
reiterated that action for an orderly medium-term
resolution of global imbalances is a shared
responsibility; it again urged the international community
to make a concerted and sustained effort to reduce the
associated risks. The communiqué listed some of the needed
policies—notably, raising U.S. national saving, including
by reducing the budget deficit; boosting growth in the
euro area and several other countries through structural
reforms; further structural reforms in Japan, including
fiscal consolidation; greater exchange rate flexibility in
emerging Asia; and promoting efficient absorption of oil
revenues in oil-exporting countries. The committee asked
the IMF to work with member governments to encourage
actions to reduce the imbalances, including the use of new
multilateral consultations proposed in the medium-term
strategy.
Speaking with the press
after the IMFC meeting, de Rato made it clear that it is
governments, not international institutions, that need to
act to address imbalances. The IMF will provide a
framework in which consequences of actions and inactions
can be seen more clearly and, in addition to providing
description and analysis, will engage governments in an
active consultation process.
The IMFC also welcomed the
IMF's efforts to respond to the new challenges and needs
of emerging market countries. In an April 20 address at
the Institute for International Economics, de Rato
challenged those who argue that Fund lending may no longer
be necessary now that capital markets have become more
important. "There will be financial crises in the future,
in current emerging markets or in those that have yet to
emerge." He added that the Fund could prepare for those
crises now or "react in haste to them later."
An important element of the
Fund's medium-term strategy is on crisis prevention and
the desire of emerging market countries for more
predictable and flexible financing instruments. The IMFC
backed a "further examination of the Managing Director's
proposal on a possible new instrument to provide
high-access contingent financing for countries that have
strong macroeconomic policies, sustainable debt, and
transparent reporting but remain vulnerable to shocks."
The committee also encouraged the IMF to explore a
possible role in supporting regional arrangements for
pooling reserves.
The IMFC also reaffirmed a
critical role for the IMF in low-income countries,
especially in helping these countries absorb increased aid
flows and debt relief and maintain macroeconomic
stability. The Fund will also play a role, in its areas of
competence, in monitoring low-income countries' progress
toward the Millennium Development Goals. The IMFC and the
Development Committee asked the Fund and the Bank to
refine their debt sustainability framework and help
countries implement sound medium-term debt strategies and
strong public expenditure management and tax systems to
avoid reaccumulating crippling debt burdens.
The IMFC also welcomed the
Fund's new Policy Support Instrument for low-income
countries that seek IMF policy guidance without financing,
and the Exogenous Shocks Facility for poor countries
coping with oil price or other shocks.
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About 140 representatives
of civil society organizations (CSOs) attended events at
the 2006 Spring Meetings. This year's Program of Policy
Dialogues for accredited CSOs included 15 sessions
organized by the IMF, the World Bank, and CSOs. Fund staff
were involved in meetings on the IMF's medium-term
strategy, trade, debt relief, and issues related to the
scaling-up of aid. The full list of dialogues as well as
summary notes of most sessions will be available at
http://www.worldbank.org/civilsociety.
Considerable attention was
given to issues related to the scaling-up of aid to
low-income countries. On April 22, an IMF panel met with
representatives of CSOs on work being done by the Fund in
this area, and the IMF's Independent Evaluation Office
(IEO) offered a briefing on its evaluation of the role of
the IMF in determining the external financing envelope in
Sub-Saharan African countries.
IMF work on scaling-up
of aid
Current research at the IMF
on these issues was discussed at a session with CSOs on
April 22. IMF panelists included Andy Berg from the Policy
Development and Review Department (PDR), Peter Heller and
Marijn Verhoeven from the Fiscal Affairs Department(FAD),
and Sanjeev Gupta from the African Department(AFR). Gupta
presented the conclusions of an April 19-20
workshop organized by the IMF and the UK Department
for International Development (DfID). He noted that the
participants had before them a new handbook entitled "Macroeconomic
Challenges of Scaling-Up Aid to Africa—A Checklist for
Practitioners," co-authored by Gupta, Robert Powell,
and Yongzheng Yang. The handbook was prepared as a guide
for assessing the macroeconomic implications and
challenges associated with a significant scaling-up of aid
to African countries.
Berg presented a
paper that examines how countries manage aid surges,
in particular whether they use the aid to finance increase
spending and whether they use it to increase imports. One
finding was that, in most of the cases examined in the
paper, currencies had not appreciated as a result of
significant increases in aid flows, partly because
countries put much of the increased aid into reserves,
often exceeding Fund targets for reserve accumulation.
While this means that "Dutch disease" (currency
appreciation or inflation arising from an inflow of
external resources, which can adversely affect net exports
and incomes of producers in the trading sectors) was not
observed, it suggests that the fear of Dutch
disease keeps some countries from fully using the aid
inflows to finance increased imports.
Heller described
preliminary work being done on a new paper that would
likely be ready near the September Annual Meetings, and
that will build upon his previous
paper on fiscal issues in scaling-up. The new paper
would examine the issues that arise in making sure that
spending does occur, without adversely affecting
macroeconomic stability. The issues include: the
challenges of programming spending appropriately in the
context of medium-term fiscal frameworks; avoiding
sectoral imbalances in the distribution of spending;
dealing with the loss of a fiscal anchor as a result of
debt relief; and how to conduct budget planning in the
face of possible volatility of donor commitments.
Verhoeven discussed the
preliminary findings of a
working paper (co-authored with Annalisa Fedelino and
Gerd Schwartz) that assesses the impact of wage bill
ceilings that are often part of Poverty Reduction and
Growth Facility (PRGF) programs. Based on country case
studies for 2003-05, the paper suggests that such ceilings
have not previously restricted the use of available donor
funds. It offers suggestions for further enhancing wage
flexibility under IMF programs in order to respond to the
higher aid flows that are expected to meet the Millennium
Development Goals.
Civil society
representatives focused on two main issues suggested by
the analyses in the various papers: the need to work with
donors to enhance the predictability of aid flows (a
conclusion reached at the IMF-DfID workshop also), and the
need to enhance transparency related to accountability for
decision making on the use of aid. Speakers noted that
country officials often blame the IMF when they cannot
increase spending in certain sectors, while the IMF
insists that decisions belong to the authorities.
Forthcoming IEO paper
The issue of accountability
was one of several subjects that will be examined by the
IEO in its forthcoming evaluation of the Role of the IMF
in the Determination of the External Financing Envelope in
Sub-Saharan African Countries (see
Issues Paper). Panelists—including Joanne Salop, Steve
Mugerwa, Martin Kaufman, and Markus Berndt, all of the IEO—at
a session with CSOs on April 22 explained that this
evaluation is focusing on the years 1998-2005, with
reference to the earlier Report on the Evaluation of
Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) and the PRGF for
historical perspective. A major part of the evaluation
involves a process of consultation with, and a survey of,
PRGF country officials, donors, the African Development
Bank, as well as civil society. The report, expected to be
completed by end-2006, will also examine such issues as
the capacity and style of Fund missions and resident
representatives.
Civil society
representatives called on the IEO to broaden its
consultations in Africa by exploring different means of
contacting CSOs, many of which are based in the
countryside and do not have access to the internet. One
suggestion was to expand outreach through the media, by
publicizing an ongoing evaluation—and opportunities for
consultation.
Other meetings
- Michael Hadjimichael of
PDR participated in the panel: Is the Doha Agenda
Moving Away from Development?, sponsored by the
International Working Group on Trade-Finance Linkages
and the Heinrich Böll Foundation. Participants discussed
the growth model underpinning the Doha Round
negotiations; World Bank and Fund advice and analysis on
trade issues; and the scope for the Doha negotiations to
regain a greater focus on development. Speakers included
Chandra Patel (Southern and Eastern Africa Trade
Information and Negotiations Initiative); Tom Palley
(Economics for Democratic & Open Societies); Sandra
Polaski (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace);
and Richard Newfarmer (World Bank). The session was
moderated by Liane Schalatek of the Heinrich Böll
Foundation.
- Carolyn Reynolds and
Simonetta Nardin, respectively from the World Bank and
IMF civil society teams, met with CSOs to brief them on
the plans for the IMF and World Bank 2006 Annual
Meetings that will be held in Singapore in September.
They covered the planning process for
CSO participation in the Meetings, including a
recent meeting held with CSOs in Singapore. (See
related article)
- Thomas Dawson, the
outgoing Director of the IMF's External Relations
Department, gave an update on the Fund's medium-term
strategy (see related article), an
initiative that was launched by the IMF's Managing
Director Rodrigo de Rato last September.
- PDR Deputy Division
Chief Hervé Joly participated in a panel that updated
CSO participants on the Multilateral Debt Relief
Initiative, which has granted full debt relief to 19
countries. Other panelists included World Bank staff
Akihiko Nishio from the Resource Mobilization Department
and Sona Varma from the Economic Policy and Debt
Development Department. CSOs were most concerned about
the potential eligibility of additional indebted
countries in the future.
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The IMF and the World Bank
organized a series of meetings with labor union leaders in
Washington March 27-30, continuing a regular dialogue
aimed at strengthening the lines of communication between
the international financial institutions (IFIs) and labor
unions. Formal high-level meetings are held every two
years (see story in the
Civil Society Newsletter November 2004), with interim
meetings in intervening years, to take stock of progress
on commitments, discuss new issues, and plan for the next
high-level meeting. Technical meetings focusing on
specific issues are also held periodically (see story in
the
Civil Society Newsletter May 2005).
About 40 trade union
officials participated, including representatives of
national and international federations, members of the
International Confederation of Trade Unions (ICFTU) and
the World Confederation of Labor (WCL), and members of the
Economic Policy Working Group of the Trade Union Advisory
Committee (TUAC) of the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD). The TUAC Working Group
was meeting in Washington at the same time on other
issues.
During the meeting, the
IFIs reported on progress on
commitments made at the last high-level meeting. They
noted that these were generally on track, but acknowledged
the need to continue efforts to integrate consultations
with trade unions at the country and regional levels, and
to find ways to deepen the quality of that dialogue. It
was agreed that the next high-level meeting would be held
in late November or early December 2006.
The ICFTU and WCL delivered
a short report on the impending unification of their two
confederations and a number of other independent union
groups into a new global body. The unification is expected
to take place in early November 2006.
Mark Plant, Senior Advisor
in the IMF's Policy Development and Review Department,
closed out the meeting with a report on progress in
implementing the IMF's medium-term strategy, on the
introduction of new IMF facilities for low-income
countries last year (the
Policy Support Instrument and the
Exogenous Shocks Facility), and on the IMF's
cancellation of debt owed by 19 countries under the
Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative in January 2006 (see
Civil Society Newsletter February 2006 ).
Other sessions were devoted
to discussions with the World Bank, including on its 2007
World Development Report; its labor market research
agenda; ongoing work on informal labor markets; labor
market-related work in Africa; labor-related indicators in
the Doing Business Reports 2006 and 2007;
and the adoption of IFC performance standards on labor and
working conditions.
The participants also
discussed five country cases studies (Bulgaria, Nepal,
Columbia, South Africa, and Germany) of the IMF and World
Bank's approaches to labor issues. A positive finding in
all five cases was that the IFI country teams knew the
union representatives well, having met with them regularly
during missions to each country. This illustrated the
progress made in fostering regular dialogue with labor
unions at the country level. The depth of analysis by all
parties was also notable, leading to very specific
nationally focused debates on objectives, and belying the
claim by some critics of a "one-size-fits-all" approach by
the IFIs. As most of the case studies were nonprogram
countries, IMF speakers noted that the Fund's role had
been mainly to call attention to challenges that need to
be addressed, and in that context encourage discussion
among social partners that could lead to consensus on
possible solutions. While clear differences of views
remained between the IFIs and unions on the policies to be
pursued, all stressed that the case studies had provided a
valuable opportunity to exchange views nevertheless.
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The World Bank and the
International Labor Organization (ILO) in February brought
together representatives of bilateral and multilateral
agencies to discuss coordination on issues related to
social protection. Participants included staff from the
World Health Organization, Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development, Asian Development Bank, World
Food Programme, European Union, UNICEF, United Nations
Department for Economic and Social Affairs, UK Department
for International Development (DfID), Finnish Aid, Swedish
International Development Aid, the German aid agency
Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit, and the
Norwegian aid agency MFA.
The meeting's objective was
to facilitate more effective interagency coordination on
issues such as pension reform, health insurance and health
system reform, poverty and social impact analysis (PSIA),
unemployment compensation, micro-insurance, and social
safety net analysis. Policy instruments discussed included
technical assistance, analytic work, preparation of
primers, training, program and project loans, and
surveillance.
The IMF was represented by
Peter Heller, Deputy Director of the IMF's Fiscal Affairs
Department, who described the IMF's limited technical
assistance in the social protection area, including
pension reform and expenditure rationalization. He also
offered an overview of the Fund's PSIA activity, and its
ongoing analytic work—principally in relation to pension
and health insurance reform—in the context of bilateral
and multilateral consultations with the membership.
Underscoring the importance placed on collaboration with
other agencies, he emphasized that the IMF has only
limited resources and expertise in this area, and that
Fund staff would welcome the possibility of drawing on the
work of other agencies. A number of agencies raised
concerns about the IMF's willingness to provide "fiscal
space" for social protection activities. Heller emphasized
the efforts of the IMF to work with countries to explore
what are the feasible options for expanding fiscal space,
consistent with macroeconomic stability. For many
countries, there may be limits in the short-run, other
than from reliance on concessional loans and grants.
The sweeping overview
provided by each agency of its activities revealed some
obvious "holes" in coverage of topics. Specifically,
health systems and health financing, while covered to some
extent by some agencies, do not appear to be addressed
in-depth by any one agency. Other topics that are barely
addressed include the challenge of providing social
protection in conflict and post-conflict situations, the
trafficking of women, slavery, and the economic position
of migrants.
While the meeting was
valuable in terms of providing a better awareness of the
activities of the different agencies, the challenge will
be to facilitate the spread of this information to each
agency's decentralized units. For most, field operatives
make most of the critical decisions on how an issue is
addressed in a country, so the challenge is how to make
these units aware of the potential resources and expertise
available.
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The Annual Meetings of the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group are
held outside Washington every third year. This year's
meetings and all related events will be held in Singapore
during September 13-20.
As in previous years, the
Civil Society Teams at the Bank and Fund will organize a
Civil Society Policy Forum for accredited civil society
representatives. Extensive efforts are under way to ensure
that CSOs and representatives will be able to participate
productively in the meetings. Accredited CSOs will have at
their disposal a centrally-located space in the conference
center, with access to reporters, officials, and events.
The Program of Seminars will be open to all participating
CSOs.
Leading up to the Annual
Meetings, the Bank and Fund are meeting with CSOs in Asia
to ensure that they have a prominent voice in the
discussions at the Annual Meetings and that the Civil
Society Forum will have a regional focus. A two day
Bank-Fund planning meeting with over a dozen CSOs from the
Asia and Pacific region was held in Singapore in late
March. A report on these discussions will be available
shortly on
http://www.worldbank.org/civilsociety.
The World Bank and IMF
civil society teams prepared a
concept note outlining the process for consultations
leading up to the Meetings. Ideas and suggestions from
interested CSOs are welcome.
All CSO representatives
wishing to participate in the Annual Meetings will need to
obtain formal accreditation. The accreditation system will
be web-based and will be available in June. Please visit
this
website for updates closer to the date.
Please contact the Civil
Society Teams at the World Bank (civilsociety@worldbank.org)
and the International Monetary Fund (ngoliaison@imf.org)
for further information.
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Western Hemisphere
Department Director Singh meets social and indigenous
movements in Bolivia
The general elections in
Bolivia last December produced historic political change,
including new representation in Congress and the
impressive victory of Evo Morales, the country's first
president of indigenous origin. The new government, which
took office on January 22, is committed to a concerted
effort to ensure that economic growth becomes more
socially inclusive and effective in generating employment
and reducing Bolivia's very high income inequality. It is
developing an economic strategy, including a poverty
reduction component, that would provide the framework for
the forthcoming Article IV consultation—the vehicle for
the IMF's regular policy discussions with member
countries—in May, and a possible successor to the Stand-by
Arrangement that expired at the end of March.
Reflecting the importance
that IMF management attaches to the political and economic
transition in Bolivia, Western Hemisphere Department (WHD)
DirectorAnoop Singh visited La Paz in February to signal
the Fund's readiness to remain fully engaged in the
economic policy debate and assist the authorities in
developing their economic strategy. Singh led a group of
staff that held high-level meetings with the new
government, the private sector, and representatives of the
broad coalition of social and indigenous movements that
propelled President Morales and his Movimiento al
Socialismo party (MAS) to power with an unprecedented
mandate for change. The group also met with embassies.
The new government is keen
on bringing about a break with many aspects of past
policies. The visiting WHD delegation was impressed by the
authorities' commitment to preserving macroeconomic
stability, and to promoting better governance and greater
transparency. This may well, in the end, provide a more
supportive environment than in the past for carrying out
key structural reforms supported by a broad domestic
consensus. Moreover, the new government's strength in
Congress bodes well for the advancement of a number of
reforms that require legislative action.
A major highlight of the
visit for the Fund delegation was a town-hall style
meeting with the social movements of El Alto, a large
working-class city that neighbors La Paz. The meeting
included representatives of the Central Obrera Regional
(COR) whose membership is about 40,000. Participants
voiced a high degree of frustration with previous
governments' policies and with the association of
international financial institutions with those policies.
One of the central complaints was the perception that
resources obtained by previous governments from the
international donor community had failed to reach those in
need and hence to make a tangible impact in the fight
against poverty. The audience was therefore very vocal in
demanding debt relief, and was pleasantly surprised to
learn that the Fund had recently cancelled its pre-2005
claims on Bolivia in the context of the Multilateral Debt
Relief Initiative (MDRI).
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The first ever joint
meeting between Caribbean labor union representatives and
international financial institutions took place in
Trinidad and Tobago on February 16-17. At the event, 19
Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL) leaders from ten
Caribbean countries discussed the challenges and
opportunities facing the Caribbean region with
representatives of the World Bank, Inter-American
Development Bank (IADB), and the IMF.
Discussions centered on
regional integration, macroeconomic stability,
productivity and competitiveness, labor market reforms,
the social impact of the dismantling of the trade
preferences in bananas and sugar, and poverty reduction.
Opening the conference, CCL General Secretary George de
Peana said that "this is a historical and significant
meeting, which provides a unique opportunity for the
international development institutions and the regional
labour movement to join forces to tackle some of the
existing problems in the region."
Representatives from the
international organizations underscored the need to
strengthen labor market institutions and include labor
unions in formulating development strategies. "The
Caribbean is at a crucial development crossroads," said
Caroline Anstey, the World Bank Country Director for the
Caribbean. "Including the labor movement in any discussion
of national or regional development strategies is vital."
The importance for the
Caribbean of achieving fiscal and debt sustainability and
raising economic growth rates featured at the center of
much of the dialogue. Ratna Sahay, Assistant Director of
the IMF's Western Hemisphere Department, emphasized that
the unions could play an important part in enhancing the
quality of public dialogue and policy making in the region
by encouraging governments to collect and disseminate more
information and analysis on economic and social
developments. Dora Currea, Division Chief for the
Caribbean at the IADB, said that improving the functioning
of labor market institutions is key to achieving quality
employment and increased productivity.
Labor union representatives
emphasized that they support greater regional integration
and reforms to address the challenges facing the Caribbean
region. A key concern in this respect was the transition
costs to the poor. There was agreement between the union
representatives and the international organizations about
the importance of ensuring that the poor were protected
and that economic growth and social equity should continue
to feature prominently in the regional agenda. The
participants agreed to hold a follow-up meeting in 2007.
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- On February 22, Andy
Berg of the Policy Development and Review Department
(PDR) met with Francesco Oddone of the European Network
on Debt and Development (EURODAD) to discuss the IMF
paper, "The
Macroeconomics of Managing Increased Aid Inflows:
Experiences of Low-Income Countries and Policy
Implications."
- Global Witness (GW)
Cambodia expert, Mike Davis, and Corrina Gilfillan of GW
US met with David Coe, Jeremy Carter, and Matt Davies of
the Asia & Pacific Department on February 22, to discuss
corruption in the Cambodian logging industry ahead of
the Consultative Group (CG) Meeting on Cambodia. Davis
gave an overview of GW's reports on corruption in the
Cambodian logging industry and emphasized the need to
eliminate illegal logging, and improve governance and
fiscal transparency. The meeting also addressed the
upcoming CG meeting and the debt relief extended to
Cambodia in December as part of the Multilateral Debt
Relief Initiative (MDRI).
- On March 13-16, the New
Rules for Global Finance Coalition hosted a workshop,
"Lessons from Experiences with Ex-Ante Poverty and
Social Impact Assessments (PSIA) of Macroeconomic
Policies in Bangladesh, Cameroon, Ghana, Nepal and the
Philippines," at the IMF and at the United Nations
Foundation. The workshop examined five case studies to
understand how to overcome constraints affecting more
comprehensive poverty impact assessments of
macroeconomic policies and their use in policy design.
The IMF African Department's (AFR) Paul Francis
participated in the panel discussion "Social Analysis in
PSIA," while AFR's Kirsty Mason presented the case study
of Ghana. Other IMF speakers included Robert Gillingham
of the Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD), who gave an
overview of the policy framework of the Fund's PSIA
work.
- Carina Tertsakian,
Global Witness' lead campaigner on the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC), met with the Fund's team for
the DRC on March 14. Tertsakian gave an overview on GW
research on copper and cobalt mines in Katanga Province.
The team welcomed GW's information and shared concerns
about governance and fiscal transparency in the mining
sector, a major source of revenue for the DRC.
- On April 4-7, PDR's
Elliot Harris and Thomas Dorsey, Jeremy Carter of APD,
Philippe Beaugrand, the IMF's Resident Representative in
Lao People's Democratic Republic, and Simonetta Nardin
of the External Relations Department (EXR) held a brief
meeting ahead of the conference, Forum on National
Plans as PRS in East Asia: Mainstreaming the Poverty
Reduction Strategy Papers, organized by the World
Bank, the IMF, United Nations Development Program
(UNDP), and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in
Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic. The meeting
allowed an exchange of views about the PRSP conference
and provided regional CSOs with information on the
September Annual Meetings in Singapore.
- On April 8, PDR's Mark
Plant participated in a panel discussion with the author
Susan George, Jubilee Debt Campaign's Caroline Pearce,
and Lidy Nacpil of Jubilee South, at annual Jubilee Debt
Campaign conference, Debt and Power, in London.
Plant responded to questions on the IMF's debt relief
and poverty reduction initiatives. He also met on April
10 with CSOs in a meeting organized by EURODAD in
Brussels to discuss the role of the IMF in low-income
countries.
- On April 13 FAD's Peter
Heller, Marijn Verhoeven, and Shamsuddin Tareq met with
Max Lawson of Oxfam GB and Taylor Thompson of Oxfam
International's Washington Office, to discuss Oxfam's
paper, "Making Services Work for the Poor." The
discussion focused on the economic impact of
unpredictable aid flows, the need for other
international institutions to provide well-crafted
sectoral studies on the scaling up of aid, and FAD's
current work examining the fiscal impact of
unpredictable aid flows.
- On April 25, Henry
Northover, Belinda Calaguas, Timeyin Uwejamomere,
Dominick De Waal, and James Wicken of London-based
WaterAid visited the Fund. The WaterAid delegation met
with PDR's Mark Lewis and EXR's Jeremy Mark, Dottie
Thibodeau, and Jennifer Bisping for an overview on the
governance structure of the IMF, navigation of the IMF
website, and the IMF's role in low-income countries. The
delegation also met APD and AFR country team members for
lunch.
- On April 27, Nikki
Reisch of the Bank Information Center and visiting
Chadian transparency advocates Gilbert Maoundonodiji of
Group de Recherché Alternative et de Monitoring du
Projet Pétrole Tchad-Cameroun (GRAMP TC), Thérèse
Mekombe of Collège de Contrôle et de Surveillance des
Revenus Pétroliers (CCSRP) and Soumaene Adoum of
Swissaid met with the Chad country team to discuss
fiscal transparency issues in Chad.
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- Anne O. Krueger, the
IMF's First Deputy Managing Director, informed Managing
Director Rodrigo de Rato of her intention to
resign at the end of her term on August 31, 2006.
Her successor will be named in due course. Prior to
Krueger's five year tenure at the IMF, she was a Senior
Fellow of the Hoover Institute at Stanford University,
the World Bank's Vice President for Economics and
Research, former President of the American Economic
Association, and recipient of many economic prizes and
awards. She has taught at various academic institutions
and published extensively on policy reform in developing
countries, the role of multilateral institutions in the
international economy, and the political economy of
trade policy. She holds a Ph.D. in economics from the
University of Wisconsin and an undergraduate degree from
Oberlin College.
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-
Address by Agustín Carstens, Deputy Managing
Director, at the 2006 Special High-Level Meeting of the
ECOSOC, New York, April 24, 2006.
-
A Call for Cooperation: What the IMF and its Members Can
Do to Solve Global Economic Problems, by Rodrigo de
Rato, Managing Director, at the Institute for
International Economics, April 20, 2006.
-
How the IMF Can Help Promote a Collaborative Solution to
Global Imbalances, remarks by Rodrigo de Rato,
Managing Director, at the Harvard Business School, April
4, 2006.
-
The IMF's Medium-Term Strategy for Low-Income Countries,
remarks by Rodrigo de Rato, Managing Director, at the
Regional Roundtable on Policies for Growth and
Development and the Challenges of Scaling-Up Aid,
Lusaka, Zambia, March 16, 2006.
-
Shared Responsibilities: Solving the Problem of Global
Imbalances, by Rodrigo de Rato, Managing Director,
at the University of California at Berkeley,
February 3, 2006.
-
The IMF's Medium-Term Strategy: New Priorities, New
Directions, by Rodrigo de Rato, Managing Director,
at the Aspen Institute in Rome, February 9, 2006.
-
Evolution not Revolution: The Changing Role of the IMF
in the Global Economy, by Anne O. Krueger, First
Deputy Managing Director, at Stanford University,
California, February 23, 2006.
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- The Managing Director's
Report on
Implementing the Fund's Medium-Term Strategy.
-
Review of Financing of the Fund's Concessional
Assistance and Debt Relief to Low-Income Member
Countries, by the Finance Department.
-
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative - Statistical
Update, by the Staffs of the IMF and the World Bank.
-
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative - List of
Ring-Fenced Countries Potentially Eligible Under the
Initiative, by the Staffs of the IMF and the World
Bank.
-
The Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative - Progress
Report on Implementation, by the Policy and
Development Review Department.
-
World Economic Outlook, April 2006.
-
Communiqué of the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four
on International Monetary Affairs and Development.
-
Communiqué of the International Monetary and
Financial Committee of the Board of Governors of the
International Monetary Fund.
-
Managing Director's Statement to the Development
Committee.
-
Report on the Incidence of Longer-Term Program
Engagement, by Policy and Development Review
Department.
-
Macroeconomic Challenges of Scaling Up Aid to Africa,
edited by Sanjeev Gupta, Robert Powell, and Yongzheng
Yang.
-
Volatility of Development Aid: From the Frying Pan Into
the Fire? By Ale_ Bulir, IMF Institute and Javier A.
Hamann, Independent Evaluation office of the IMF,
Working Paper 06/65.
-
Does NGO Aid Go to the Poor? Empirical Evidence from
Europe, by Gilles Nancyand Boriana Yontcheva, IMF Institute, Working Paper 06/65.
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