[stop-imf] WPost: IMF's next boss

[Robert Weissman]

Note the mention of pending protests against the IMF (April 16) in the
final paragraph.

Robert Weissman
Essential Information=09=09=09|   Internet:=09rob@essential.org

Washington Post
The IMF's Next Boss
Thursday, March 2, 2000; Page A18=20

THE MORE technology binds the world together, the more important but
also controversial international institutions become. The World Trade
Organization, for example, must oversee expanding international
commerce. But its ability to do so has been compromised by fights among
its members. Last year's search for a new WTO director general was
prolonged and messy; partly because of that distraction, the organization
and its members prepared poorly for last November's summit in Seattle.
As a result, Seattle yielded high profile anti-WTO protests but no=20
progress on trade liberalization.

Now a similar prospect faces the International Monetary Fund. Like the
WTO, the IMF's responsibilities grow with globalization: The
emerging-market financial crisis demonstrated how a panic originating in=20
a middling country such as Thailand could threaten the world economy. But=
=20
the IMF's growing importance is not matched by a growing determination
to make it run properly. The search for a new leader for the organization i=
s
currently bogged down.

The IMF's new boss will face twin challenges. He or she will have to deal
with questions about the organization's basic direction. Should it disengag=
e
from the world's poorest countries, leaving these to the World Bank?
Should it stop bailing out bigger ones, lest it foster the impression that
reckless actors will be protected from their own mistakes? If these
questions are resolved, the new boss will then have to sell the answers to
the IMF's constituents--both in rich countries that provide the IMF's
capital and in poorer ones that depend upon its loans.

The first of these challenges requires a skilled economist, the second an
accomplished politician. For varying reasons, none of the candidates
proposed so far is ideal. Caio Koch-Weser, the official European
candidate, is regarded by many within the IMF as insubstantial, and the
Clinton administration's justified opposition to him is a severe handicap.
Eisuke Sakakibara, the Japanese entrant, is clever, but his record as a
booster of Japanese-style capitalism suggests wayward judgment. Stan
Fischer, who is supported by several developing countries, is highly
regarded as the IMF's number two and de facto policy chief--clearly the
best of the current candidates. But his American nationality would
complicate the diplomatic task ahead of him: In much of the world, the
IMF is regarded as an American tool.

The Europeans, who traditionally provide the IMF's leader, need to come
up with a better candidate quickly. If they don't, they will deserve to los=
e
their historical hold on the job. The Clinton administration is right to=20
insist upon strong leadership: Without it, the IMF is likely to be thrown o=
ff
balance by its numerous critics, much as the WTO has been. Indeed, a
congressional panel is just now finalizing a report questioning the
organization's mission, and demonstrators are planning to descend on
April's IMF-World Bank meetings in Washington. Globalization makes the
challenge of fortifying global institutions constant, and constantly=20
essential.=20

         =A9 Copyright 2000 The Washington Post Company



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