[Quideuaquitarragona] [Qui-deu-a-qui] CARTA SOBRE FMI/Letter against IMF policies

Dil Set 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, srimmingtonaessentialinformation.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, srimmingtonaessentialinformation.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, srimmingtonaessentialinformation.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 infoabrettonwoodsproject.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, srimmingtonaessentialinformation.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 infoabrettonwoodsproject.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

djamesacepr.net
deborahjames1 skype

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