This is no surprise. ------- Forwarded message follows ------- IMF cares only about developed economies, says Nobel economics laureate Xinhuanet 2002-08-10 04:06:54 PARIS, Aug. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel prize winner and former World Bank chief economist, said Friday that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) obeys only to interests of industrialized nations and called for reforms in the organization. "The IMF responds to interests of the financial markets and of advanced industrialized nations. It does not respond to the real preoccupations of the developing world," said Stiglitz in an interview with French daily Le Figaro. "The industrialized nations, notably the United States, are fervent advocators of free trade. But if you look at what really happens, (you will find that) the world trade is very asymmetric, very unjust," said Stiglitz. "Under pressure from developed nations, the South open their borders and abolish the subsidies while the North continue to ban products from the South and maintain subsidies to defend their ownproducts," he said. The American economist also accused the IMF of making matters worse by demanding emerging economies to dismantle barriers to foreign capital. Such a process intended to allow more facility for the in-and-outs of short-term capital but ended with "more instability in developing countries," said Stiglitz. He also lamented that within the IMF, the United States is the only member enjoying a veto, which he said makes it easier for theU.S. Treasury Department to exert its influence upon the organization. "As the United States dominates international financial markets,it is not surprising that the policies of the IMF reflect their points of view," he said. "The fundamental reform consists of changing the governors. I am not optimistic because the United States will never abandon their veto," said Stiglitz, adding that increased transparency in decision-making and sanctions against error decisions are also needed. Stiglitz started as the World Bank's chief economist in February 1997. He resigned in November 1999. He later served as advisor to World Bank chief James Wolfensohn until April 2000. A regular critic of US, World Bank and IMF economic policies, Stiglitz was awarded Nobel Economics Prize in 2001, together with two other U.S. economists, for working out models that explain howimbalances in information possession impact economic conditions. Enditem ------- End of forwarded message ------- ******************************************************* http://home3.inet.tele.dk/mcamara http://www.gambia.dk **"Start by doing what's necessary, then what's possible and suddenly you are doing the impossible"*** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~