[stop-imf] IMF news (fwd)

[Robert Weissman]

1/14/00, World Bank Development News

IMF LOOKS TO BROADER BASE OF SUPPORT FOR ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMS.

The IMF will secure broader support for its programs from various sectors of 
society to make them more effective and successful, AFP reports an IMF
official 
said yesterday. "Clearly, we think that programs work better and quicker if 
there is this broader sense of ownership," IMF External Relations Director 
Thomas Dawson said in Singapore. "When a budget is drawn up, and targets are 
agreed to, an assessment has to be made as to its viability."

This is why "Fund missions do regularly meet with elements in the opposition, 
with elements in civil society, labor unions in particular to...make a
judgment 
of what is doable and achievable," he added, citing the success of the IMF's 
program in South Korea, where there was leadership and willingness to support 
financial restructuring. Dawson said his trip through Japan and Singapore were 
among a series of visits by IMF officials to gain feedback on the Fund's 
programs, including from the media, opposition groups, and labor unions.

Meanwhile, AFP notes in a separate report that Japanese Foreign Minister Yohei 
Kono said in Paris yesterday Japan had no candidate to succeed outgoing IMF 
Managing Director Michel Camdessus. "Japan has no concrete proposal," he said 
during an address to the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI).
Traditionally, notes the story, the top job at the IMF goes to a European, but 
this is being increasingly called into question. Former Japanese Vice Finance 
Minister Eisuke Sakakibara has been mooted for the job, but Kono said: "In my 
opinion, there will be different proposals and different candidates. It is not 
necessary to give the job to a specific region.