Le FMI en crise?

A l'occasion de la réunion de printemps du Fond Monétaire International et de la Banque Mondiale, "New europe" a réalisé un dosssir spécial "le FMI en crise?". Dominique Strauss Kahn, directeur du FMI, Lorenzo Bini Smaghi membre du directoire de la BCE, Alex Wilks diecteur de l'ONG Eurodad à Bruxelles ou moi même, avons été interrogés sur la crise de légitimité du Fond. Le dossier complet : http://www.neurope.eu/focus.php.

Voici mon article (seulement en anglais).

"In the current international debate on the reform of the IMF, it is I believe useful to have a look at the original mandate given to this international financial institution. The articles of agreement of 1944, still in force today, though perhaps forgotten by some, include the following objectives:

- to promote international monetary stability,

- to facilitate the expansion of international trade, and to contribute thereby to the promotion and maintenance of high levels of employment and real income,

- to promote exchange stability and to avoid competitive exchange depreciation,

- to lessen the degree of disequilibrium in balances of payments.

Looking at this mandate and at the disaster of the current financial crisis, at the use and abuse of exchange rates to favour exports, at the trade deficits and surpluses of leading economies, at the threat of a global economic slowdown, it would be logical to conclude that the IMF is exactly what the world needs! Reality is somewhat different. For a lot of historical reasons, the IMF transformed itself into a mixture of a banker, fire fighter and policeman figure. Lender of last resort for many poor countries, it is willing to lend money only in exchange of painful social and economic reforms. As a policeman, the IMF exerts a continuous surveillance on the policies of these countries.
The IMF is also called in by not so poor countries as a fire fighter to extinguish the flames of major financial crisis, and indeed the IMF normally succeeds in this task, though the methods used are often considered too drastic by the beneficiaries. Today, once habitual clients of the IMF in Asia and South America are repaying their IMF debts in advance, and accumulating huge monetary reserves, so as to free themselves from the rule of the IMF. This creates also a very practical problem for the IMF, whose financing depends on the profits of its lending activities. The problem of the IMF is also a governance issue. Based on a baroque system of “constituencies” and on the principle of “one dollar one vote”, the governance of the IMF is criticised on many grounds: transparency, accountability, democratic legitimacy, geographic unbalance.
The challenges facing Dominique Strauss Kahn are numerous and difficult. The proposed reform of the voting rights distribution, the renewed focus on international financial stability (as opposed to focusing on structural adjustment policies of poor countries), the attention given to new issues such as the rising prices of basic foodstuffs, all seem to go in the right direction. Clearly though, the project of restoring the credibility of the IMF as an efficient guardian of international financial stability is a long term one. Much depends of course on the members, especially on European countries, whose cumulated voting rights actually exceed those of the Unites States, the relative majority shareholder.
The European Parliament called on the EU Member States, “to work towards a single voting constituency - possibly starting as a Euro constituency, with a view, in the longer term, to securing consistent European representation, involving the Ecofin Council Presidency and the Commission, subject to the European Parliament’s scrutiny”. Such a move would simplify the governance of the IMF, logically complement internationally the internal competences of the EU and of the Eurozone, and prove the determination of the EU to effectively contribute to a more stable and fair international financial system.