[Qui-deu-a-qui] CARTA SOBRE FMI/Letter against IMF policies
Victor Maeso
vmaeso en setem.org
Lun Sep 29 12:27:07 CEST 2008
MessageREQUEST FOR ENDORSEMENTS (ENGLISH BELOW) *** PEDIDO DE ADHESIONES
Estimados Amigos:
Muchos de Ustedes están conscientes de que ahora la sociedad civil mundial tiene la más importante oportunidad en la última década - y en un futuro previsible - de abogar por cambios significativos en la política del Fondo Monetario Internacional. Por favor, consideren firmar la carta a continuación y reenviarla a otras organizaciones amigas alrededor del mundo que puedan estar interesadas en apoyar estos esfuerzos.
Las reuniones de otoño del FMI y el Banco Mundial presentan una oportunidad importante para que aprovechemos este momento histórico y mostrar un apoyo general y global para que se le dé fin a las políticas perniciosas apoyadas por el FMI, las cuales impiden que los países incrementen sus inversiones en la educación y la salud. Por favor, envíe la firma de su organización y pais a Sarah Rimmington de Essential Action, srimmington en essentialinformation.org, antes del domingo, 5 de octubre, 2008.
Hacemos notar que organizaciones estadounidenses mandaron una carta similar al Congreso de EE.UU. la última primavera. Ahora nosotros estamos invitando a los mismos grupos, ADEMÁS de otros grupos mundiales para unirse a este llamado por cambios drásticos en la política del FMI hacia países en desarrollo. Mandaremos un borrador revisado de la carta de abril a la Junta Ejecutiva del FMI durante sus reuniones en octubre en Washington, D.C.
**¿Por qué una carta de firmantes para la Junta Ejecutiva del FMI ahora?**
El pasado abril, la Junta Ejecutiva del FMI aprobó una propuesta para vender parte de las reservas de oro que mantiene para crear un fondo de inversiones. Las ganancias obtenidas a través de dicho fondo serán utilizadas para pagar los gastos administrativos del FMI. El FMI está tomando esta medida porque está enfrentado una crisis en su presupuesto: países de mediano ingreso han estado pagando sus deudas al FMI pero no están solicitando nuevos prestamos. En un giro inusitado de acontecimientos, el FMI requiere la autorización del Congreso de Estados Unidos para vender este oro, brindándole una oportunidad única a la sociedad civil para poder forzar cambios en la política del FMI.
La sociedad civil estadounidense decidió aprovechar esta oportunidad de poder presionar a nuestro Congreso para que condicione la aprobación de las ventas de oro con cambios en la manera en que opera el FMI. El abril pasado, más de 100 grupos de la sociedad civil estadounidense lanzaron un esfuerzo de presión a través del envío de cartas al Congreso para hacer exactamente eso, instando a que las ventas de oro sean aprobadas solamente si el Congreso logra obtener cambios en la política del FMI, de manera que la institución:
*Deje de exigir que los países adopten la política de mantener metas de inflación y un nivel restrictivo de déficit, que no favorece el crecimiento económico.
*Que no incluya el gasto en salud y educación cuando se apliquen límites a los presupuestos fiscales de los gobiernos.
*Detenga el desvío de asistencia extranjera a pagos de deudas domésticas o a la acumulación de reservas internacionales, en vez de ser utilizadas para sus propósitos originales.
*Separe las condicionalidades económicas perniciosas de la condonación de deuda; y
*Mejore la transparencia y realice consultas públicas significativas antes de llevar a cabo acuerdos sobre políticas económicas con los países.
Como la propuesta del FMI sobre la venta del oro le daría auto-financiamiento a la agencia, es probable que esta importante oportunidad de presionar al Congreso para aplicar presión sobre el Fondo no se presentará de nuevo en un futuro inmediato.
Hasta ahora, algunos miembros importantes del Congreso han expresado su interés en condicionar las ventas del oro del FMI a la asignación de una porción del dinero para iniciativas designadas a la condonación de deuda. Sin embrago, a pesar de estar preocupados por las condiciones que el FMI impone sobre los países en desarrollo en términos de políticas económicas y la falta de transparencia en la institución, estos congresistas están inseguros sobre si presionar por cambios drásticos o no, a menos que vean un apoyo mundial amplio a favor de estos cambios.
Por eso, les estamos pidiendo a Ustedes, nuestros compañeros alrededor del mundo, que apoyen un llamado general a que se den cambios drásticos en el FMI.
Por favor, revisen la carta de firmantes a continuación y notifíquenle su decisión de apoyar esta iniciativa (solamente organizaciones por favor) a Sarah Rimmington de Essential Action, srimmington en essentialinformation.org, antes del domingo, 5 de octubre, 2008.
¡Muchas Gracias!
*** Carta Mundial a la Junta Ejecutiva del FMI ***
xx de octubre, 2008
Estimado Director Ejecutivo ,
Asunto: Condicionando la venta de oro a la reforma de las políticas del FMI en países en desarrollo.
Con muchos países pagando sus deudas al FMI y no solicitando nuevas líneas de crédito, las maneras tradicionales de generar ingreso de la institución están disminuyendo. Enfrentado con un déficit de $400 millones en el presupuesto en 2010, la Junta Ejecutiva del FMI en abril aprobó una propuesta para vender una porción de sus reservas de oro. El ingreso será utilizado para crear un fondo cuyas ganancias ayudarán con el financiamiento del presupuesto administrativo de la institución. Estamos escribiendo para pedir que la Junta Ejecutiva insista en poner en práctica reformas significativas a la política del FMI en favor del desarrollo y poner condiciones sobre la manera en que el oro será vendido, antes de implementar las ventas.
En las últimas tres décadas, las políticas del FMI han limitado el desarrollo y han negado oportunidades y vidas dignas para cientos de millones de personas. El FMI ha utilizado su rol como guardián de flujos internacionales de capital para insistir en que países pobres adopten un conjunto restringido de políticas macroeconómicas. Estas políticas han limitado la posibilidades de más crecimiento económico y han prevenido que gobiernos de países en desarrollo inviertan suficientes cantidades en la asistencia médica, la educación y otras necesidades vitales.
Como se ha propuesto hasta ahora, la venta del oro del FMI sería un acontecimiento único y las ganancias serían usadas solamente para financiar operaciones del FMI sin cualquier garantía ni promesas de cambios en las políticas fracasadas y perniciosas del FMI.
Si la Junta Ejecutiva del FMI prosigue con sus ventas de oro, debería aprobovechar la oportunidad de rectificar sus agravios históricos. Las ganancias de las ventas de oro no deben ser utilizadas exclusivamente para mantener al personal del FMI.
El oro en manos del FMI es, en esencia, un bien público. Si se va a implementar la venta del oro, una porción significativa de las ganancias debería ser dedicada al bien público de aliviar la pobreza mundial. La mejor manera de hacer esto sería de destinar una porción de las ganancias hacia la condonación de deuda. Esta porción de las ganancias podría depositarse en un fondo fiduciario que podría ser utilizado para cubrir los atrasos prolongados de los países que pronto serán elegibles para la condonación de sus deudas de acuerdo con los programas de alivio de deuda del FMI/BM ya existentes, o para financiar la condenación de deuda en el futuro para países empobrecidos.
Las ventas de oro no deberían ser autorizadas antes de que el FMI logre los siguientes cambios específicos y demostrables en sus mandatos y prescripciones para países en desarrollo.
. El FMI debe revocar el uso de la política de mantener metas de inflación y un nivel restrictivo de déficit. Estas metas constrictivas les impide a los países en desarrollo aumentar su crecimiento económico a través de la expansión de sus inversiones públicas a largo plazo a través de gastos en sectores públicos claves, como las áreas esenciales de la salud y la educación. El FMI no deben continuar estorbando los esfuerzos de los funcionarios que en países endeudados están buscando y adoptando opciones de políticas fiscales y monetarias mas expansivas.
. Un mayor gasto en la educación y en la salud debe ser excluido de las políticas que restringen innecesariamente los gastos del gobierno en general. Los límites establecidos para los presupuestos y masas salariales han minado la capacidad de países empobrecidos de pagar salarios adecuados para los trabajadores en los sectores de salud y educación, además de contratar a trabajadores adicionales y mejorar la calidad de estos sectores. El FMI ha mostrado ciertos avances en eliminar los limites sobre las masas salariales, pero todavía mantiene los límites a los presupuestos, los cuales ponen restricciones sobre los gastos y la flexibilidad de los gobiernos.
. A los países en desarrollo se les debe permitir utilizar la ayuda internacional que reciben para los fines originales de esos recursos. En vez de gastar esta ayuda en la salud, HIV/SIDA, y la educación, grandes porcentajes han sido destinados al pago de deuda doméstica y la acumulación de reservas internacionales debido a las políticas del FMI que regulan políticas monetarias. Aunque entendemos que el establecimiento de un fuerte nivel de reservas puede ser una prioridad para un país, la decisión de usar o no usar ayuda internacional para aumentar reservas debería ser una decisión tomada por un gobierno después de tener discusiones públicas acerca de las implicaciones con el legislativo, la sociedad civil, y otras partes interesadas, y con un análisis claro de los riesgos y los beneficios implicados.
. La condonación de la deuda debe estar desvinculada de las condiciones políticas económicas perniciosas, incluyendo las restrictivas metas inflacionarias y presupuestarias, límites a los sueldos y presupuestos que restringen los gastos en salud y educación; y políticas que desvían la ayuda internacional de sus fines originales.
. La transparencia y el derecho a tener acceso a la información debe ser fortalecido en el FMI. La publicación de los borradores sobre los informes de políticas del FMI, informes sobre asistencia técnica, y documentos de la Junta Ejecutiva - como por ejemplo, las actas de las reuniones de la Junta - es de suma importancia para facilitar la participación informada de las partes interesadas en la toma de decisiones económicas nacionales y para asegurar que los ciudadanos tengan la capacidad de exigir que sus gobiernos sean responsables.
. Las prácticas del FMI deben cambiar para asegurar que la toma de decisiones sobre política se de a nivel nacional y en forma democrática. El proceso operacional de los equipos de las misiones del FMI en las que se visitan a los países y se revisan los acuerdos de préstamos o se lleva a cabo la vigilancia anual (informes según el Artículo IV) debe facilitar consultaciones informadas y abiertas con una amplia gama de partes interesadas externas, no solamente con los Ministerios de Finanzas y los Bancos Centrales. Entre dichas partes interesadas se debería incluir a otros ministros gubernamentales relevantes (incluso salud y educación), economistas independientes y especialistas académicos, la sociedad nacional civil y los sindicatos laborales. Estas consultaciones generales y significativas deberían ocurrir antes de que las políticas macroeconómicas de un país sean formuladas.
Finalmente, hacemos notar que el plan para la ventas de oro del FMI indica que no habrá ventas similares posteriormente. Dados los exorbitantes aumentos en los costos de alimentación y del petróleo y los problemas financieros internacionales, reparar los problemas de deuda de los países en desarrollo y alcanzar los Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio podría requerir nuevas fuentes de financiamiento en el futuro. No hay razón para no comprometerse con anterioridad a utilizar el bien público que es el oro del FMI para estos fines en el futuro.
Atentamente,
[Lista en Formacion]
Action Aid International USA
Africa Action, Washington, DC, USA
American Medical Student Association
Association AIDES, France
Bank Information Center, Washington, DC, USA
Centre for Civil Society Economic Justice Project, University of KwaZulu-Natal Durban, South Africa
Centre for Human Rights and Development, Mongolia
Centre for Safety and Rational Use of Indian Systems of Medicine Ibn Sina Academy of Medievel Medicine & Sciences Aligarh, India
CODESEN (Coordination of Civil Society Organizations for the Environmental Protection and the Development of the Senegal River Basin), Dakar, Senegal
CRBM (Campaign to Reform the World Bank), Italy
Economic Justice and Development Organization (EJAD), Pakistan
EMPOWER, India
Essential Action, Washington, DC, USA
European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG), Brussels, Belgium
Food and Water Watch, USA
Forum for Biotechnology & Food Security, New Delhi, India
Gender Action, Washington, DC, USA
Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Health, Accra, Ghana
Ghana Trade and Livelihood Coalition (GTLC), Accra, Ghana
Global Action for Children, Washington, DC, USA
Global AIDS Alliance, Washington, DC
Global Campaign for Education, Washington, DC USA
Global Exchange, San Francisco, CA, USA
GrassRootsAfrica, Accra, Ghana
Health Alliance International, Seattle, WA, USA
Health GAP (Global Access Project), Philadelphia, PA, USA
Health and Human Rights programme, School of Public Health and Family Medicine Health Sciences Faculty, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Holy Cross International Justice Office, Notre Dame, IN, USA
Initiative for Community Development , Nigeria
Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, Joseph, OR
International Labor Rights Forum, Washington, DC, USA
International Presentation Association Justice Network India
International Presentation Association of the Sisters of the Presentation New York, NY, USA
The Irish Missionary Union
Jubilee San Diego
Jubilee USA Network
Kenya AIDS NGOs Consortium (KANCO)
Kenya Debt Relief Network (KENDRAN)
Labour,Health and Human Rights Development
Centre, lhahrdev, Lagos, Nigeria
Madhya Pradesh Vigyan Sabha (MPVS), Bhopal, India
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, USA
Medical Mission Sisters, Sector North America
Notre Dame de namur Justice and Peace Network, USA
Nyaya Health, Achham, Nepal
The Oakland Institute, Oakland, CA, USA
Plate-forme haïtienne de Plaidoyer pour un Développement Alternatif (PAPDA) Port-au-Prince, Haïti
Partners In Health, Boston, MA, USA
Physicians for Human Rights, USA
Positive Malaysian Treatment Access & Advocacy Group (MTAAG+).
Presentation Congregation
Presentation Justice Network, Ireland
RESULTS JAPAN
RESULTS UK
RESULTS USA
Sisters of the Holy Cross, Congregation Justice Committee, USA
Social Development Network, Kenya
TransAfrica Forum, Washington, DC, USA
Treatment Action Group (TAG), New York, NY, USA
United Belize Advocacy Movement (UNIBAM)
United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society, Washington, DC, USA
World Development Movement, London, UK
Youth Development Forum (YODEFO), Kampala, Uganda
Youth In Action, Sierra Leone
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
September 26, 2008
Dear Colleagues,
In advance of the upcoming annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank, two sign-on letters to the IMF's executive board are circulating.
You may already have received one, or indeed both, of them.
We are requesting that you consider endorsing both letters, which are pasted below.
Although their purposes are similar, they are not identical. The deadline for both is Sunday October 5.
One letter was initiated by a coalition of U.S.-based groups, is addressed to the IMF Board, but has an important secondary audience, the
U.S. Congress, which will be a key player in the IMF's bid to secure funding to continue operations now that it has acknowledged a serious
financial crisis of its own. According to U.S. law, congressional approval for the IMF's plan to sell some of its gold reserves for this
purpose is required before the IMF board plan can go into effect. The letter calls for an end to harmful policies supported by the IMF that
prevent countries from scaling up investments in health and education before implementing the gold sale. Thus, this letter puts the IMF on
notice regarding civil society's agenda, and will be circulated widely among Members of Congress to encourage them to condition approval
of gold sales on serious reforms of the way the IMF does business, particularly in low-income countries.
Members of Congress have indicated they want to see broad international support if they are to push for bold reforms at the IMF-and this letter
is a significant means to ensure that global civil society's voices are resonating together.
The Letter is pasted below and is available online at http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/editorsblog/uploads/GlobalLetterFINAL.oct08.doc
Sign-Ons for this letter should go to Sarah Rimmington, Essential Action, srimmington en essentialinformation.org by Sunday October 5, 2008.
~*~
The other letter was initiated and drafted by several organizations within the IMF Campaign network and encourages Finance Ministers
and the IMF Executive Board to shut down the Poverty Reduction & Growth Facility (PRGF), the principle source of IMF loans to low-income countries.
The letter suggests that the remaining funds be shifted to other more suitable agencies and institutions, implying that there would be no reduction in funds
to low-income countries eligible for the PRGF. This letter specifically targets the upcoming review of IMF lending instruments, the first opportunity
in some time to get high-level officials on the record about the IMF's main remaining avenue to push structural adjustment programs.
This letter is pasted below and can be viewed online at http://brettonwoodsproject.org/art.shtml?x=562405
Sign-ons for this letter should go to Peter Chowla at info en brettonwoodsproject.org by Sunday October 5.
Thank you for playing a part in these unique opportunities to change the IMF.
You can see both letters below:
Letter #1
--- DRAFT and endorsements as of September 26, 2008 ---
Dear Executive Director,
Re: Preconditioning Gold Sales on Reform of IMF Policy in Developing
Countries
With many countries repaying their loans to the International Monetary
Fund and not seeking new lines of credit, the institution's traditional
means of generating income is dwindling. Facing a budget shortfall of
$400 million in 2010, in April the IMF's Executive Board approved a
proposal to sell some of its gold reserves. The revenue will be used to
create an endowment whose earnings will assist in financing the
institution's administrative budget. We are writing to urge that before
the Executive Board implements gold sales, it insist on meaningful
pro-development reforms in IMF policy in developing countries, and
attach conditions to how gold sales will occur.
Over the last three decades, IMF policies have limited development, and
denied opportunity and decent livelihoods to hundreds of millions. The
IMF has leveraged its role as gatekeeper to international capital flows
to insist that poor countries adopt a narrow set of macroeconomic
policies. These policies have limited possibilities for more
expansionary economic growth and prevented developing country
governments from investing sufficiently in healthcare, education and
other vital needs.
As proposed, sale of IMF gold would be a one-time event, with the
proceeds used solely to fund IMF operations, and without any assurances
or even promises of changes to long-standing failed and harmful IMF
policies.
If the IMF Executive Board is to proceed with gold sales, it should take
advantage of the opportunity to remedy these historic wrongs. The
proceeds from gold sales must not be used exclusively to maintain IMF staff.
The gold held by the IMF is in essence a global public good. If gold
sales are to be implemented, a significant portion of the proceeds
should be devoted to the public good of alleviating global poverty. The
best way to do this would be to allocate proceeds towards debt
cancellation. Proceeds could be placed into a trust that could be used
to cover protracted arrears of countries soon to be eligible for debt
cancellation under the existing IMF/World Bank debt relief programs, or
to fund future debt cancellation for additional impoverished countries.
Gold sales should not be permitted before the IMF achieves the following
specific and demonstrable changes in its policy mandates and
prescriptions for developing countries:
* The IMF must rescind the use of overly restrictive deficit-reduction
and inflation-reduction targets. These contractionary targets prevent
developing countries from boosting their economic growth by expanding
long-term public investments through deficit spending in key public
sectors, such as the critical areas of health and education. The IMF
must not continue to stand in the way of policy makers in borrowing
countries exploring and adopting more expansionary fiscal and monetary
policy options.
* Expanded health and education spending must be exempt from policies
that unduly constrain overall government spending. Budget and wage bill
ceilings have undermined impoverished
countries' ability to provide adequate salaries for health and education
workers, hire additional needed health workers and teachers, and scale
up and improve the quality of the health and education sectors. The IMF
has made some progress toward eliminating wage bill ceilings, but it
still maintains budget caps that limit overall government spending
flexibility.
* Developing countries must be permitted to spend foreign aid for its
intended purposes. Instead of being spent on health, HIV/AIDS, and
education, large percentages of foreign aid have been allocated to
domestic debt payment and international currency reserves because of IMF
policies regulating monetary policies. While we understand that the
establishment of strong reserves can be a priority for a country, the
decision of whether to use foreign aid to build up reserves should be
the government's, made after public discussion of the implications with
the legislature, civil society, and other stakeholders, with a clear
analysis of the trade-offs involved.
* Debt cancellation must be de-linked from harmful economic policy
conditions, including overly restrictive deficit-reduction and
inflation-reduction targets, wage and budget caps that limit spending on
health and education; and policies that lead to diversion of foreign aid
from its intended purposes.
* Transparency and the right to access information must be strengthened
at the IMF. Disclosure of IMF draft policy papers, technical assistance
reports, and Executive Board documents-such as the minutes on Board
meetings-is imperative to facilitating informed participation by
external stakeholders in national economic decision-making and to
ensuring citizens' ability to hold their governments accountable.
* IMF practices must change to ensure national, democratic
decision-making over policy-making. The operational process of IMF
Mission Teams that visit countries to review loan agreements or conduct
annual surveillance (Article IV reports) must facilitate open and
informed consultations with a wide range of external stakeholders, not
just with the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank. Stakeholders
should include other relevant government ministries (including health
and education), independent economists and academic specialists,
national civil society and labor unions. These broad and meaningful
consultations should occur before a country's macroeconomic policies are
set.
Finally, we note that the IMF's gold sales plan indicates there will be
no subsequent sale of gold. Given skyrocketing costs for food and oil
and the current global financial turmoil, redressing developing country
debt problems and meeting Millennium Development Goal (MDG) objectives
may require new sources of funding in the future. There is no reason to
preemptively commit to not deploying the global public good of IMF gold
for this purpose in the future.
Sincerely,
[List in Progress]
Action Aid International USA
Africa Action, Washington, DC, USA
American Medical Student Association
Association AIDES, France
Bank Information Center, Washington, DC, USA
Centre for Civil Society Economic Justice Project, University of
KwaZulu-Natal
Durban, South Africa
Centre for Human Rights and Development, Mongolia
Centre for Safety and Rational Use of Indian Systems of Medicine
Ibn Sina Academy of Medievel Medicine & Sciences
Aligarh, India
CODESEN (Coordination of Civil Society Organizations for the
Environmental Protection and the Development of the Senegal River
Basin), Dakar, Senegal
CRBM (Campaign to Reform the World Bank), Italy
Economic Justice and Development Organization (EJAD), Pakistan
EMPOWER, India
Essential Action, Washington, DC, USA
European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG), Brussels, Belgium
Food and Water Watch, USA
Forum for Biotechnology & Food Security, New Delhi, India
Gender Action, Washington, DC, USA
Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Health, Accra, Ghana
Ghana Trade and Livelihood Coalition (GTLC), Accra, Ghana
Global Action for Children, Washington, DC, USA
Global AIDS Alliance, Washington, DC
Global Campaign for Education, Washington, DC USA
Global Exchange, San Francisco, CA, USA
GrassRootsAfrica, Accra, Ghana
Health Alliance International, Seattle, WA, USA
Health GAP (Global Access Project), Philadelphia, PA, USA
Health and Human Rights programme, School of Public Health and Family
Medicine
Health Sciences Faculty, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Holy Cross International Justice Office, Notre Dame, IN, USA
Initiative for Community Development , Nigeria
Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, Joseph, OR
International Labor Rights Forum, Washington, DC, USA
International Presentation Association Justice Network India
International Presentation Association of the Sisters of the Presentation
New York, NY, USA
The Irish Missionary Union
Jubilee San Diego
Jubilee USA Network
Kenya AIDS NGOs Consortium (KANCO)
Kenya Debt Relief Network (KENDRAN)
Labour,Health and Human Rights Development
Centre, lhahrdev, Lagos, Nigeria
Madhya Pradesh Vigyan Sabha (MPVS), Bhopal, India
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, USA
Medical Mission Sisters, Sector North America
Notre Dame de namur Justice and Peace Network, USA
Nyaya Health, Achham, Nepal
The Oakland Institute, Oakland, CA, USA
Plate-forme haïtienne de Plaidoyer pour un Développement Alternatif (PAPDA)
Port-au-Prince, Haïti
Partners In Health, Boston, MA, USA
Physicians for Human Rights, USA
Positive Malaysian Treatment Access & Advocacy Group (MTAAG+).
Presentation Congregation
Presentation Justice Network, Ireland
RESULTS JAPAN
RESULTS UK
RESULTS USA
Sisters of the Holy Cross, Congregation Justice Committee, USA
Social Development Network, Kenya
TransAfrica Forum, Washington, DC, USA
Treatment Action Group (TAG), New York, NY, USA
United Belize Advocacy Movement (UNIBAM)
United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society,
Washington, DC, USA
World Development Movement, London, UK
Youth Development Forum (YODEFO), Kampala, Uganda
Youth In Action, Sierra Leone
Letter # 2 from Bretton Woods Project and Partner Civil Society Organizations in the IMF Campaign:
30 September 2008
Ministers of Finance
IMF Executive Directors
Re: IMF Review of Lending Instruments, Facilities, and Policies
It is time to seriously re-think the role that the IMF should be playing
in low-income countries. The Executive Board's plan to review all the
Fund's lending instruments and facilities over the next few months
presents an opportunity to do so.
The IMF has come under serious criticism both internally and externally
about its focus and role in low income countries. The Malan Committee
highlighted the inappropriate role the Fund is playing in low-income
countries, overstepping its traditional role of addressing short term
balance of payment crises to act as a development financier, even though
it is not a development institution. The report concluded that "the
Fund's financing in low-income countries is an area where it has moved
beyond its core responsibilities."
The Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) of the IMF has highlighted
problems with both the structural and macroeconomic conditions in PRGF
countries. The IEO report released in January 2008 highlighted the lack
of progress on reducing conditionality. Despite this, the first annual
report on structural conditionality shows that it has increased rather
than decreased. The 2007 IEO report demonstrated that PRGF programs
largely replicate the conditions attached to the "structural adjustment"
lending which has been so heavily criticized.
While the Fund may have a role to play in addressing short-term balance
of payments problems, it is clearly not equipped to act as a long-term
development lender in low-income countries. Conditionality included in
PRGF programs constrains the domestic policy space needed by countries
to develop innovative economic policies best suited to create growth and
reduce poverty in their specific country contexts. It also undermines
the accountability of borrowing governments, who blame IMF conditions
for the lack of investment in their social sectors.
The IMF Board should take the necessary steps to insure that the planned
review of the PRGF is rigorous and broad. We believe that any
comprehensive examination is likely to echo past recommendations for a
sharp curtailment or closure, given the IMF's lack of development
expertise and apparent inability or disinclination to limit the use of
conditionality. We call on you to close the PRGF to new requests. The
funds remaining in the PRGF Trust should be shifted to other
institutions and other forms of development assistance, implying no net
decrease in resources available to low-income countries.
With new resources available to low-income countries from debt relief
and scaled-up aid, now is the time to make sure that the international
financial architecture meets the serious challenges faced by low-income
countries. That calls for new thinking about the IMF's role. The
undersigned organisations (and individuals) urge you to use the IMF's
facility review to do just that.
Signed (as of 11 September 2008):
Organisations
1. African Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD)
2. Bretton Woods Project, UK
3. Halifax Initiative, Canada
4. CRBM, Italy
5. Treatment Action Group, USA
6. Social Justice Committee, Canada
7. Zimbabwe coalition on Debt and Development, Zimbabwe
8. Ecumenical Support Services, Zimbabwe
9. People's Alliance for Debt Cancellation (GARPU), Indonesia
10. Jubilee Debt Campaign, UK
11. IRPAD/Afrique, Mali
12. Jubilee Scotland, UK
13. Jubilee USA
14. Kenya Debt Relief Network, Kenya
15. Christian Aid, UK
16. ActionAid International
17. Jubilee Zambia
18. Africa 2000 Network Foundation, Zimbabwe
19. Center of Concern, USA
20. Global Exchange, USA
21. Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, USA
22. A SEED Europe, Netherlands
23. Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD)
24. Plan B, UK
25. MWENGO, Zimbabwe
Individuals
1. Oscar Ugarteche
2. Dennis Brutus
Cheers,
Bhumika
September 26, 2008
Dear Colleagues,
In advance of the upcoming annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank, two sign-on letters to the IMF's executive board are circulating.
You may already have received one, or indeed both, of them.
We are requesting that you consider endorsing both letters, which are pasted below.
Although their purposes are similar, they are not identical. The deadline for both is Sunday October 5.
One letter was initiated by a coalition of U.S.-based groups, is addressed to the IMF Board, but has an important secondary audience, the
U.S. Congress, which will be a key player in the IMF's bid to secure funding to continue operations now that it has acknowledged a serious
financial crisis of its own. According to U.S. law, congressional approval for the IMF's plan to sell some of its gold reserves for this
purpose is required before the IMF board plan can go into effect. The letter calls for an end to harmful policies supported by the IMF that
prevent countries from scaling up investments in health and education before implementing the gold sale. Thus, this letter puts the IMF on
notice regarding civil society's agenda, and will be circulated widely among Members of Congress to encourage them to condition approval
of gold sales on serious reforms of the way the IMF does business, particularly in low-income countries.
Members of Congress have indicated they want to see broad international support if they are to push for bold reforms at the IMF-and this letter
is a significant means to ensure that global civil society's voices are resonating together.
The Letter is pasted below and is available online at http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/editorsblog/uploads/GlobalLetterFINAL.oct08.doc
Sign-Ons for this letter should go to Sarah Rimmington, Essential Action, srimmington en essentialinformation.org by Sunday October 5, 2008.
~*~
The other letter was initiated and drafted by several organizations within the IMF Campaign network and encourages Finance Ministers
and the IMF Executive Board to shut down the Poverty Reduction & Growth Facility (PRGF), the principle source of IMF loans to low-income countries.
The letter suggests that the remaining funds be shifted to other more suitable agencies and institutions, implying that there would be no reduction in funds
to low-income countries eligible for the PRGF. This letter specifically targets the upcoming review of IMF lending instruments, the first opportunity
in some time to get high-level officials on the record about the IMF's main remaining avenue to push structural adjustment programs.
This letter is pasted below and can be viewed online at http://brettonwoodsproject.org/art.shtml?x=562405
Sign-ons for this letter should go to Peter Chowla at info en brettonwoodsproject.org by Sunday October 5.
Thank you for playing a part in these unique opportunities to change the IMF.
You can see both letters below:
Letter #1
--- DRAFT and endorsements as of September 26, 2008 ---
Dear Executive Director,
Re: Preconditioning Gold Sales on Reform of IMF Policy in Developing
Countries
With many countries repaying their loans to the International Monetary
Fund and not seeking new lines of credit, the institution's traditional
means of generating income is dwindling. Facing a budget shortfall of
$400 million in 2010, in April the IMF's Executive Board approved a
proposal to sell some of its gold reserves. The revenue will be used to
create an endowment whose earnings will assist in financing the
institution's administrative budget. We are writing to urge that before
the Executive Board implements gold sales, it insist on meaningful
pro-development reforms in IMF policy in developing countries, and
attach conditions to how gold sales will occur.
Over the last three decades, IMF policies have limited development, and
denied opportunity and decent livelihoods to hundreds of millions. The
IMF has leveraged its role as gatekeeper to international capital flows
to insist that poor countries adopt a narrow set of macroeconomic
policies. These policies have limited possibilities for more
expansionary economic growth and prevented developing country
governments from investing sufficiently in healthcare, education and
other vital needs.
As proposed, sale of IMF gold would be a one-time event, with the
proceeds used solely to fund IMF operations, and without any assurances
or even promises of changes to long-standing failed and harmful IMF
policies.
If the IMF Executive Board is to proceed with gold sales, it should take
advantage of the opportunity to remedy these historic wrongs. The
proceeds from gold sales must not be used exclusively to maintain IMF staff.
The gold held by the IMF is in essence a global public good. If gold
sales are to be implemented, a significant portion of the proceeds
should be devoted to the public good of alleviating global poverty. The
best way to do this would be to allocate proceeds towards debt
cancellation. Proceeds could be placed into a trust that could be used
to cover protracted arrears of countries soon to be eligible for debt
cancellation under the existing IMF/World Bank debt relief programs, or
to fund future debt cancellation for additional impoverished countries.
Gold sales should not be permitted before the IMF achieves the following
specific and demonstrable changes in its policy mandates and
prescriptions for developing countries:
* The IMF must rescind the use of overly restrictive deficit-reduction
and inflation-reduction targets. These contractionary targets prevent
developing countries from boosting their economic growth by expanding
long-term public investments through deficit spending in key public
sectors, such as the critical areas of health and education. The IMF
must not continue to stand in the way of policy makers in borrowing
countries exploring and adopting more expansionary fiscal and monetary
policy options.
* Expanded health and education spending must be exempt from policies
that unduly constrain overall government spending. Budget and wage bill
ceilings have undermined impoverished
countries' ability to provide adequate salaries for health and education
workers, hire additional needed health workers and teachers, and scale
up and improve the quality of the health and education sectors. The IMF
has made some progress toward eliminating wage bill ceilings, but it
still maintains budget caps that limit overall government spending
flexibility.
* Developing countries must be permitted to spend foreign aid for its
intended purposes. Instead of being spent on health, HIV/AIDS, and
education, large percentages of foreign aid have been allocated to
domestic debt payment and international currency reserves because of IMF
policies regulating monetary policies. While we understand that the
establishment of strong reserves can be a priority for a country, the
decision of whether to use foreign aid to build up reserves should be
the government's, made after public discussion of the implications with
the legislature, civil society, and other stakeholders, with a clear
analysis of the trade-offs involved.
* Debt cancellation must be de-linked from harmful economic policy
conditions, including overly restrictive deficit-reduction and
inflation-reduction targets, wage and budget caps that limit spending on
health and education; and policies that lead to diversion of foreign aid
from its intended purposes.
* Transparency and the right to access information must be strengthened
at the IMF. Disclosure of IMF draft policy papers, technical assistance
reports, and Executive Board documents-such as the minutes on Board
meetings-is imperative to facilitating informed participation by
external stakeholders in national economic decision-making and to
ensuring citizens' ability to hold their governments accountable.
* IMF practices must change to ensure national, democratic
decision-making over policy-making. The operational process of IMF
Mission Teams that visit countries to review loan agreements or conduct
annual surveillance (Article IV reports) must facilitate open and
informed consultations with a wide range of external stakeholders, not
just with the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank. Stakeholders
should include other relevant government ministries (including health
and education), independent economists and academic specialists,
national civil society and labor unions. These broad and meaningful
consultations should occur before a country's macroeconomic policies are
set.
Finally, we note that the IMF's gold sales plan indicates there will be
no subsequent sale of gold. Given skyrocketing costs for food and oil
and the current global financial turmoil, redressing developing country
debt problems and meeting Millennium Development Goal (MDG) objectives
may require new sources of funding in the future. There is no reason to
preemptively commit to not deploying the global public good of IMF gold
for this purpose in the future.
Sincerely,
[List in Progress]
Action Aid International USA
Africa Action, Washington, DC, USA
American Medical Student Association
Association AIDES, France
Bank Information Center, Washington, DC, USA
Centre for Civil Society Economic Justice Project, University of
KwaZulu-Natal
Durban, South Africa
Centre for Human Rights and Development, Mongolia
Centre for Safety and Rational Use of Indian Systems of Medicine
Ibn Sina Academy of Medievel Medicine & Sciences
Aligarh, India
CODESEN (Coordination of Civil Society Organizations for the
Environmental Protection and the Development of the Senegal River
Basin), Dakar, Senegal
CRBM (Campaign to Reform the World Bank), Italy
Economic Justice and Development Organization (EJAD), Pakistan
EMPOWER, India
Essential Action, Washington, DC, USA
European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG), Brussels, Belgium
Food and Water Watch, USA
Forum for Biotechnology & Food Security, New Delhi, India
Gender Action, Washington, DC, USA
Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Health, Accra, Ghana
Ghana Trade and Livelihood Coalition (GTLC), Accra, Ghana
Global Action for Children, Washington, DC, USA
Global AIDS Alliance, Washington, DC
Global Campaign for Education, Washington, DC USA
Global Exchange, San Francisco, CA, USA
GrassRootsAfrica, Accra, Ghana
Health Alliance International, Seattle, WA, USA
Health GAP (Global Access Project), Philadelphia, PA, USA
Health and Human Rights programme, School of Public Health and Family
Medicine
Health Sciences Faculty, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Holy Cross International Justice Office, Notre Dame, IN, USA
Initiative for Community Development , Nigeria
Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, Joseph, OR
International Labor Rights Forum, Washington, DC, USA
International Presentation Association Justice Network India
International Presentation Association of the Sisters of the Presentation
New York, NY, USA
The Irish Missionary Union
Jubilee San Diego
Jubilee USA Network
Kenya AIDS NGOs Consortium (KANCO)
Kenya Debt Relief Network (KENDRAN)
Labour,Health and Human Rights Development
Centre, lhahrdev, Lagos, Nigeria
Madhya Pradesh Vigyan Sabha (MPVS), Bhopal, India
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, USA
Medical Mission Sisters, Sector North America
Notre Dame de namur Justice and Peace Network, USA
Nyaya Health, Achham, Nepal
The Oakland Institute, Oakland, CA, USA
Plate-forme haïtienne de Plaidoyer pour un Développement Alternatif (PAPDA)
Port-au-Prince, Haïti
Partners In Health, Boston, MA, USA
Physicians for Human Rights, USA
Positive Malaysian Treatment Access & Advocacy Group (MTAAG+).
Presentation Congregation
Presentation Justice Network, Ireland
RESULTS JAPAN
RESULTS UK
RESULTS USA
Sisters of the Holy Cross, Congregation Justice Committee, USA
Social Development Network, Kenya
TransAfrica Forum, Washington, DC, USA
Treatment Action Group (TAG), New York, NY, USA
United Belize Advocacy Movement (UNIBAM)
United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society,
Washington, DC, USA
World Development Movement, London, UK
Youth Development Forum (YODEFO), Kampala, Uganda
Youth In Action, Sierra Leone
Letter # 2 from Bretton Woods Project and Partner Civil Society Organizations in the IMF Campaign:
30 September 2008
Ministers of Finance
IMF Executive Directors
Re: IMF Review of Lending Instruments, Facilities, and Policies
It is time to seriously re-think the role that the IMF should be playing
in low-income countries. The Executive Board's plan to review all the
Fund's lending instruments and facilities over the next few months
presents an opportunity to do so.
The IMF has come under serious criticism both internally and externally
about its focus and role in low income countries. The Malan Committee
highlighted the inappropriate role the Fund is playing in low-income
countries, overstepping its traditional role of addressing short term
balance of payment crises to act as a development financier, even though
it is not a development institution. The report concluded that "the
Fund's financing in low-income countries is an area where it has moved
beyond its core responsibilities."
The Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) of the IMF has highlighted
problems with both the structural and macroeconomic conditions in PRGF
countries. The IEO report released in January 2008 highlighted the lack
of progress on reducing conditionality. Despite this, the first annual
report on structural conditionality shows that it has increased rather
than decreased. The 2007 IEO report demonstrated that PRGF programs
largely replicate the conditions attached to the "structural adjustment"
lending which has been so heavily criticized.
While the Fund may have a role to play in addressing short-term balance
of payments problems, it is clearly not equipped to act as a long-term
development lender in low-income countries. Conditionality included in
PRGF programs constrains the domestic policy space needed by countries
to develop innovative economic policies best suited to create growth and
reduce poverty in their specific country contexts. It also undermines
the accountability of borrowing governments, who blame IMF conditions
for the lack of investment in their social sectors.
The IMF Board should take the necessary steps to insure that the planned
review of the PRGF is rigorous and broad. We believe that any
comprehensive examination is likely to echo past recommendations for a
sharp curtailment or closure, given the IMF's lack of development
expertise and apparent inability or disinclination to limit the use of
conditionality. We call on you to close the PRGF to new requests. The
funds remaining in the PRGF Trust should be shifted to other
institutions and other forms of development assistance, implying no net
decrease in resources available to low-income countries.
With new resources available to low-income countries from debt relief
and scaled-up aid, now is the time to make sure that the international
financial architecture meets the serious challenges faced by low-income
countries. That calls for new thinking about the IMF's role. The
undersigned organisations (and individuals) urge you to use the IMF's
facility review to do just that.
Signed (as of 11 September 2008):
Organisations
1. African Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD)
2. Bretton Woods Project, UK
3. Halifax Initiative, Canada
4. CRBM, Italy
5. Treatment Action Group, USA
6. Social Justice Committee, Canada
7. Zimbabwe coalition on Debt and Development, Zimbabwe
8. Ecumenical Support Services, Zimbabwe
9. People's Alliance for Debt Cancellation (GARPU), Indonesia
10. Jubilee Debt Campaign, UK
11. IRPAD/Afrique, Mali
12. Jubilee Scotland, UK
13. Jubilee USA
14. Kenya Debt Relief Network, Kenya
15. Christian Aid, UK
16. ActionAid International
17. Jubilee Zambia
18. Africa 2000 Network Foundation, Zimbabwe
19. Center of Concern, USA
20. Global Exchange, USA
21. Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, USA
22. A SEED Europe, Netherlands
23. Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD)
24. Plan B, UK
25. MWENGO, Zimbabwe
Individuals
1. Oscar Ugarteche
2. Dennis Brutus
--
Deborah James
Directora de Programas Internacionales
Centro de Investigación de Economía y Política
(Center for Economic and Policy Research)
1611 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 400 Washington, DC 20009
202 293 5380 x111
202 588 1356 fax
202 441 6917 móvil
http://www.cepr.net/espanol.html
djames en cepr.net
deborahjames1 skype
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