Subject: FW: [stop-imf] IMF invites comments on conditionality
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 11:02:45 +1000


Oooh! IMF needs some help telling it where to go.
I do hope you can help it =]

Nic...off!
> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Robert Weissman [SMTP:rob-AT-milan.essential.org]
> Sent:	Tuesday, April 10, 2001 5:51 AM
> To:	stop-imf-AT-venice.essential.org
> Subject:	[stop-imf] IMF invites comments on conditionality
> 
> April 9, 2001
> 
> IMF Invites Comments on Streamlining and Focusing Conditionality
> 
> The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is inviting comments from
> outside the institution on a set of papers that review the evolution
> of IMF conditionality the conditions attached to IMF financing and 
> discuss issues associated with streamlining and focusing it. These
> papers were published on March 21, 2001 following a discussion
> by the IMF's Executive Board (see IMF Public Information Notice
> No. 01/28) and also have been posted on the IMF website
> (www.imf.org).
> 
> Interested parties are invited to send comments on the conditionality 
> papers by regular mail or facsimile to the contact points listed on 
> this News Brief, or by email to conditionality-AT-imf.org via the 
> hyperlink on the IMF website. Comments received through these
> channels by 6:00 PM Washington time (2300GMT) May 18, 2001
> will be conveyed to the IMF's Executive Board as background
> information for a Board discussion in June, and used in further
> work by IMF staff, thus contributing directly to further progress in
> reforming conditionality.
> 
> IMF Executive Directors agreed in a discussion March 7, 2001, that
> while conditionality remains indispensable there is a need to streamline
> and focus it, to leave maximum scope for countries' policy choices
> while ensuring that essential policies are implemented.
> 
> The Board's discussion identified several important issues to be raised
> again in the period ahead; comments from the public on these issues
> will be particularly useful in guiding the Fund's work. They include:
> 
> where to draw the line between measures that are critical to program 
> objectives and those that are relevant but not critical;
> 
> how to improve coordination with other agencies on measures outside
> the IMF's core areas of responsibility;
> 
> what the IMF should do when its financial support is requested by a
> country that lacks a strong commitment to policies needed to achieve
> a sustainable external position;
> 
> whether there is scope for results-based conditionality, whereby the
> IMF would provide its financing only after specific policy results have 
> been achieved (rather than on the basis of progress toward such results);
> 
> and the scope for the Fund to play a more supportive role in helping
> countries build ownership of sound policies.
> 
> Two seminars to be held in the second quarter of 2001 will provide an
> opportunity for country officials, academic experts, and representatives
> of other international organizations, donor groups, and nongovernmental
> organizations to contribute to the IMF's review of conditionality. One
> seminar is to be held at IMF headquarters in Washington D.C. following
> the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings; the other will be held in Berlin,
> Germany, June 10-11. Both seminars will be open to the press.
> 
> For anyone unable to access the Internet, copies of the background 
> papers and the summary of the March 7 Executive Board discussion 
> are available from:
> 
> Public Affairs Division fax: 202 623-6278
> External Relations Department
> IMF
> Washington, DC 20431 USA.
> 
> Written comments may be mailed or sent by facsimile to:
> 
>                        Tim Lane fax: 202 623-4233
>                        Chief of Policy Review Division
>                        Policy Development and Review Department
>                        IMF
>                        Washington, DC 20431 USA
> 
> IMF EXTERNAL RELATIONS DEPARTMENT
> Public Affairs:	202-623-7300 - Fax: 202-623-6278
> Media Relations:202-623-7100 - Fax: 202-623-6772
> 
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