IMF Conditionality: Good, Bad, or Ugly?
IMF CENTER ECONOMIC FORUM
Thursday, September 8, 2005; 2:30-4:00 p.m.
IMF Auditorium (Visitors enter via IMF Center)
720 19th St. N.W., Washington, D.C.
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Do IMF-supported programs "work"? And what do we mean by "work"? Has anything changed in the way the IMF applies conditionality—the conditions attached to IMF financing—since the streamlining initiative of 2000-02? These are some of the key questions the IMF asked itself in the recently completed review of its conditionality. It examined the design of the programs it supports—their objectives and outcomes, the analytical frameworks underlying them, and the policies they include. It also looked at the application of conditionality within these programs—especially whether conditionality has become more parsimonious and whether national ownership is being fostered.
Moderated by:
Mark Allen, Director of Policy Development and Review Department, IMF.
Featuring:
Atish Ghosh, Division Chief, and Tessa van der Willigen, Advisor, both from the Policy Development and Review Department at the IMF, will present the findings of the review.
Ariel Buira, Director of the G24 Secretariat, will provide commentary before the floor is opened for discussion.
Tony Killick, Senior Research Associate, Overseas Development Institute, London and Visiting Professor of the University of Surrey.
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Mr. Allen, who studied economics at Cambridge University and Yale University, began his career at the IMF in 1974. He has worked at the Exchange and Trade Relations Department (now Policy Development and Review Department, PDR), the African Department, and the European I Department. His Fund career includes numerous posts abroad; among them, Senior Resident Representative in Poland (1990-93) and Hungary (1996-98). He has worked in PDR on numerous occasions; first, as a Senior Advisor and, later on, as Deputy Director. He was appointed Director of this department in December 2003.
Mr. Ghosh has degrees in economics from Oxford University and Harvard University. He began his career at the IMF in 1994, where he worked first at the European II Department and then in PDR. He was the Deputy Division Chief until 2004, at which time he became the Division Chief of the Policy Review Division. Mr. Ghosh was a professor at Princeton prior to joining the IMF.
Ms. van der Willigen has a number of degrees, including degrees in economics from Cambridge University and Oxford University. She began her career at the IMF in 1988, working in the African Department, the Exchange and Trade Relations Department (now PDR), and the European I Department. In 1996 she joined PDR, where she has held various positions including Division Chief of Stand-by Operations. Ms. van der Willigen is currently an Advisor in the immediate office of PDR.
Mr. Buira is Director of the G24 Secretariat in Washington, DC. He was formerly a senior member of Saint Anthony's College at Oxford University. Previously he held various positions at the International Monetary Fund, including economist (1970-75) and Executive Director representing Mexico (1978-82). He was international director (1982-93) and member of the board of governors of the Bank of Mexico (1994-97). During 1998-2001 he was Mexico's ambassador to Greece. In 2002 he served as special envoy of the Mexican government for the UN Conference on Financing for Development. Mr. Buira has written extensively on macroeconomics and international monetary issues.
Mr. Killick is Senior Research Associate of the Overseas Development Institute, London and Visiting Professor of the University of Surrey. He was Director of ODI in 1982-87, Senior Research Fellow there in 1987-99 and President of the Development Studies Association in 1986-88. His principal work has been in the areas of economic policies in developing countries, and in the ways in which the policies of international agencies impinge upon developing countries. He has a special interest in the economies of Africa, and in the study of poverty. He has taught at the Universities of Ghana and Nairobi. Professor Killick's books include studies of the economies of Ghana and Kenya; two studies of the policies of the IMF; an 'informal textbook' on adjustment policies in low-income countries; and a study of the use by international and other aid donor agencies of policy conditionality as a means of achieving improved economic policies.