[stop-imf] Comments on Congressional Commission Slamming IMF

[Robert Weissman]

Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
__________________________________________________

Thursday, March 9, 2000

CONGRESSIONAL COMMISSION SLAMS IMF;
ANALYSTS AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS

The new report from the International Financial Institutions Advisory
Commission, created by Congress in 1998, is adding to calls for drastic
reform of the International Monetary Fund. The "Meltzer Commission" report
urges full cancellation of the debts owed by poor countries to the IMF and
the World Bank as well as significant reduction of the role of these
institutions. Congressional hearings on these issues begin this week. The
following analysts are available for interviews:

MARIE CLARKE, (301) 699-0042, (301) 209-9050, mariec@quixote.org,
http://www.quixote.org Co-director of the Quixote Center, Clarke said: "A
Congressional Commission with members across the political spectrum came
together with the common message of 100 percent debt cancellation and an
end to long-term lending by the IMF. This indicates a common
disillusionment with the IMF and should be the starting point for
Congressional action."

ROBERT NAIMAN, (202) 822-1180 ext. 212, (202) 332-1776, naiman@cepr.net,
http://www.cepr.net Senior policy analyst with the Center for Economic and
Policy Research, Naiman said: "The Commission agreed that the debt of the
poor countries to the IMF and the World Bank should be totally cancelled
and that the role of these institutions should be dramatically reduced.
The IMF is buffeted by increasing Congressional hostility and anticipated
mass protests at its April meeting [in Washington, D.C.; see
http://www.a16.org]. The U.S. Treasury Department, which continues to
insist that the IMF and the World Bank must run the economies of poor
countries despite the economic and social destruction they have caused, is
increasingly isolated."

NJOKI NJOROGE NJEHU, (202) 544-9355, 667-6098, wb50years@igc.org,
http://www.50years.org Director of the 50 Years is Enough Network, Njehu
said: "It's very important that the diverse Commission membership was
unified in saying that the debts of the world's most impoverished
countries should be simply cancelled. These debts are literally unpayable,
and have been paid in practical terms by decades of harsh but failed
austerity programs imposed by the creditor institutions, led by the IMF.
Even more important is that the Commission recommended that the IMF cease
long-term development lending; that would prevent the IMF from re-starting
its destructive debt-and-austerity cycle."

DOUG HELLINGER, (202) 898-1566, 667-9604, dgap@igc.org,
http://www.developmentgap.org Executive director of the Development Group
for Alternative Policies, Hellinger said: "The Commission would correctly
circumscribe the influence of the IMF and the World Bank, but it
incorrectly suggests that the attraction of foreign private capital and
the funding of anti-poverty programs, service delivery and institutional
reforms will yield sustainable economic development."

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy: Sam
Husseini, (202) 347-0020 or (202) 332-5055; David Zupan, (541) 484-9167