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 		 Civil Society Newsletter
August 2004
 
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In this issue
 

Recent Developments in IMF-CSO Relations

Feature Article:
An interview with Peter Heller on financing for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment

Poverty Reduction:
IEO report: Poverty reduction strategy has fallen short of its potential
Vatican conference on poverty and globalization

Civil Society-IMF Dialogue:
IMF/World Bank dialogue with World Council of Churches moves ahead

Letters from the Field:
Susan Adams, Vietnam
David Yuravlivker, Ecuador
Dennis Jones, Guinea

Bulletin Board:
Other recent meetings between IMF staff and CSOs
Upcoming events
Inside the IMF
Selected speeches
Selected publications


 

Recent Developments in IMF-CSO Relations

Since the last issue of the Civil Society Newsletter, Rodrigo de Rato has taken up office as head of the IMF. The new Managing Director, who previously served as Finance Minister of Spain, was appointed in May after the resignation of Horst Köhler, who has since been elected President of Germany. De Rato assumed his post on June 7, and immediately set out to familiarize himself with the institution, and to meet with leaders in member countries. This has involved a busy early travel schedule, and de Rato initiated his contacts with civil society organizations (CSOs) while overseas. Immediately after arriving in Washington, the Managing Director visited Japan, China, Singapore, and Vietnam; in the last country he held a meeting with international and domestic NGOs, reported in this issue. In early August, he made his first trip to Africa as head of the Fund, visiting Nigeria, Gabon, Uganda, and Kenya. The visit involved wide-ranging exchanges of views related to the strategies for promoting faster economic growth and poverty reduction in the region; meetings with civil society organizations were held in each country. In a speech to West African leaders in Gabon, de Rato said the Fund's African Department is being restructured with more staff added, to ensure that the institution is "a reliable partner for Africa." He added that "a process of reflection is currently under way assessing the IMF's work with its low-income members." In the weeks before the October 2004 Annual Meetings, de Rato will continue reaching out to CSOs worldwide.

Over the past few months, pressure has been increasing on the international community to make good on its commitments to assist the poor countries-especially in Africa-as they battle the scourge of HIV/AIDS. The IMF has welcomed an emerging commitment by donors to provide more resources to combat the disease; the Fund is working with recipient countries to help them make the best possible use of the new resources. Over the next several years, funding for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment is expected to rise dramatically. But such rapid increases in external funding are not always an unmixed blessing: they can pose serious challenges for countries seeking to absorb the added resources effectively. If these challenges are not met, they could not only compromise the expected benefits but also endanger longer-term political support in donor countries. An interview in this issue with a senior Fund staffer outlines many of the issues faced by developing countries in using these resources. It also addresses-and refutes-recent accusations that IMF-supported programs have restricted individual countries' responses to the crisis.

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Feature Article

An interview with Peter Heller on financing for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment

Peter Heller, Deputy Director of the Fiscal Affairs Department of the IMF, is a long-standing expert on the economics of health care in developing countries. A former member of the World Health Organization's Commission for Macroeconomics and Health and a current member of the Task Force on Poverty and Economic Growth of the UN Millennium Project, Heller recently organized a meeting of IMF staff with representatives of the international health community, bilateral donors, and NGOs on how to manage the macroeconomic implications of the new flow of assistance for programs focused on HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment (see article in the IMF Survey, p. 202). He spoke about the challenges involved, at IMF Headquarters in Washington DC in July. Excerpts:

Q: Is there any legitimate criticism of the IMF in its dealings with poor countries facing vast HIV/AIDS infection rates?

A: I don't think so. There is certainly no IMF ceiling that has prevented the employment of nurses in Kenya or Uganda or elsewhere, as has been alleged by some. It is true that in these countries we are supporting programs in which there are ceilings on domestic bank borrowing by the government that effectively limit the size of the government budget deficit. Very occasionally, there are ceilings that affect total government employment. But if governments say, "We can't employ people in health care because the IMF is preventing us," that's not really true. First, ceilings that may affect government employment relate to total government employment. Governments generally recognize that there are significant inefficiencies and excesses in many ministries. Substitution of health workers or teachers in place of administrators or clerks could, under many circumstances, be a productive change. But we recognize that this is not so simple for governments to do. And second, if new resources do come in for HIV/AIDS, especially in the form of grants, there is always scope for these ceilings within Fund programs to be reconsidered. Supplementary budgets can be passed that take account of new budgetary resources, so these ceilings should not be a binding constraint preventing employment for HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention. I should also note that in some countries, the Fund has made explicit provision for increasing the size of the civil service to accommodate more teachers and health professionals.

Q: Still, the IMF does enforce spending limits.

A: Our core mandate is to help countries achieve and maintain macroeconomic stability. That doesn't mean we're not flexible. It does mean that we can't support a policy program that implies a high rate of inflation. There are limits. My understanding of recent research is that once inflation starts rising above a certain level-and here economists are still trying to understand whether that level is 5 percent or 10-11 percent-it becomes injurious to the prospects for real economic growth. It's injurious to an environment in which business can make decisions that promote growth. And it's injurious to the welfare of the poorest members of society. The question is how to do as much as possible without these macroeconomic constraints starting to bite. We would be negligent if we just ignored these kinds of issues, because we would end up weakening growth and hurting the poor-precisely the people we all want to help.

Q: When did new resources to support HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment appear?

A: They are just starting to show up. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria has been making commitments for roughly the past three years. But it's taken time for those commitments to be translated into disbursements. That's even more the case for President Bush's HIV/AIDS initiative, which only this year is starting to make disbursements. The amounts of disbursements could mount significantly next year-possibly raising total government spending in the health sectors of some countries by 30 percent to 50 percent to 75 percent, or even much more.

Q: People who are not economists may have trouble understanding why receiving a lot of money could create problems.

A: When a lot of money for HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention pours into a country like Zambia or Malawi, there certainly would be no adverse macroeconomic effects if the funds all went to buy pills. The only question would be, are there sufficient people on the ground to hand out these pills, and make sure that they're handed out to the right people? But if only one-third of the money comes in for pills, and the rest of it comes in to buy the services of nurses, doctors, and community health workers, then the question is, do you have the capacity to expand the supply of skilled professionals in that sector? If the answer is yes, then there should not be a significant problem. But in many of these countries, you don't have that capacity. It may take some time to develop training programs to augment the supply. Until that happens, what could occur is that the government starts bidding for the services of the available people. Other parts of the public sector may demand increased wages as well, arguing that "The nurses are getting higher salaries; why shouldn't we?" And governments may not be able to afford giving higher salaries to everybody.

Q: Do the potential problems go beyond pressure on wages?

A: Another issue concerns the dedication of substantial external resources to work on HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. Does this match the priorities of the government? For example, the new funding may allow the government to do a great job on HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, but the government may find itself with few resources for other critical elements of the health sector-for instance, no one to staff health centers for routine maternal-child health visits. Malaria is not going away, tuberculosis is not going away, all the sources of child mortality are not going away. It's not for us in the IMF to judge what the relative priorities should be in the health sector. But we know that governments do worry about a disproportionate focus vis-à-vis other sectors such as education, agriculture, water supply, and sanitation. Spending in those areas might be powerfully productive in raising economic growth and living standards.

Q: Some of the discussion on HIV/AIDS funding in poor countries brings up the so-called "Dutch Disease." What does this mean?

A: The term is used for a currency appreciation arising from an inflow of external resources that adversely affects export incentives and incomes of producers in the export sectors. Let me give you a real-life example: Coffee farmers in Uganda sell to a world market in which prices are quoted in dollars. World coffee prices are slumping. The coffee farmers may be poor to start with-coffee farmers are not rich in Uganda or in many other countries. Uganda receives more foreign aid. And this leads to more demand for non-traded goods-non-imports-including workers' labor. So demand rises for the currency that pays for these goods - the Uganda shilling. The shilling becomes relatively more valuable relative to the dollar. What that means is that the Ugandan selling his coffee for dollars gets fewer shillings for each dollar he makes. Suddenly his income is going down even more. And the international competitiveness of all Ugandan products declines. So "Dutch Disease" refers to a situation where a significant inflow of external resources (whether for oil, remittances, or foreign assistance) leads to an appreciation of the exchange rate that may adversely affect the export sector.

Q: Given that scenario, can aid be a bad thing?

A: No. On balance, foreign assistance for low-income countries is a good thing, and we recognize that most of the literature indicates that aid facilitates growth. Although the Dutch Disease is a concern to be aware of, we shouldn't make too much of it, at least not at this point. Our perspective in the IMF increasingly is: bring the money on, and if it really starts posing important macroeconomic challenges then we will work with governments to try to address these challenges in a way supportive of growth and poverty reduction. For instance, in middle-income countries, maybe you need to import Sri Lankan or Filipino nurses if you don't have the local nurses on hand. The important thing to emphasize is that if foreign assistance can expand productive capacity, there should not be a significant problem with the Dutch Disease effect over the longer term. Certainly, HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention should be a very supply-inducing kind of intervention. Suddenly people, who hadn't been able to work, can work again. Children, who had had to replace their parents in the fields, can go to school. This is all for the good.

Q: Now that major funding has begun, how long will it continue?

A: Governments do face the question: can they count on this money for long enough to feel comfortable hiring nurses and doctors? Or do governments lack confidence that this money will come in a year from now? If it doesn't, that could mean a need to release the newly hired nurses and doctors. Given the history of volatility of aid resources, predictability is an enormous concern to countries, especially given the nature of HIV/AIDS treatment. Once you've put someone on antiretrovirals, you're putting them on, hopefully, for the rest of their lives. It's not a situation in which you can put them on and say, "Oops, we don't have them this year; we didn't get the money."

Q: What can be done to make aid funds flow steadily and predictably?

A: At least two ideas are being discussed. Gordon Brown [Chancellor of the Exchequer of the U.K. and Chairman of the International Monetary and Financial Committee, the ministerial body that provides twice-yearly guidance to the IMF] has proposed an International Finance Facility, intended to provide the financial resources for a larger and more reliable flow of aid. Jeffrey Sachs [Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University] has been arguing that more money should be provided to the World Bank through the coming International Development Association replenishment to make possible larger long-term commitments. There has been a tremendous effort by the IMF, among others, to emphasize to donors the need for greater predictability and stability in foreign assistance. The trouble is that parliaments don't pass budgets for 10-year periods. Not surprisingly, donors find it hard to promise assistance for more than a few years.

Q: Has the success in lowering the cost of antiretroviral drugs helped to ease the problems of financing HIV/AIDS work?

A: Certainly. But we must not lose sight of the fact that pharmaceuticals do not account for all costs. The lowest cost that I have seen for generic antiretrovirals is about $150 a year. But the total cost of treatment is about $450 a year, so the labor and systems cost is about $300 a year. That is, the actual drug is only one-third of the cost of having someone on antiretrovirals.

Q: Is the IMF involved in the debate over generic versus brand-name pharmaceuticals?

A: It's not in our direct mandate, but we would support initiatives for countries to be able to use generic drugs, either that they produce themselves or buy from third-party producers. Because they're cheaper, so a lot more people get treated.

Q: Discussion of financing for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment in the developing world tends to focus largely on Africa. Should the geographical boundaries be expanded?

A: AIDS is a terribly important issue for countries including India and China. In India, even with far lower prevalence rates, the number of people with HIV/AIDS may reach levels, in the next decade, that are as large as any other country in the world. But in terms of new money and resources coming into those countries, it's not going to create potential macroeconomic problems, so it isn't likely to significantly influence the IMF's surveillance discussions with these countries. It would of course concern us as an important underlying structural problem affecting real growth rates, and creating demand for health expenditure. There are a lot of poor people in those countries, there is a big HIV/AIDS problem, and even larger health sector problems. We would certainly approve of more Official Development Assistance being channeled to countries like China and India.

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Poverty Reduction:

IEO report: Poverty reduction strategy has fallen short of its potential

The strategy that the IMF and the World Bank have followed for the past five years to help fight poverty in low-income countries has fallen short of its potential, the Fund's Independent Evaluation Office has concluded.

That assessment of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) and Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) grew out of a detailed study based on internal IMF documents, stakeholder surveys and country background studies for Guinea, Vietnam, Nicaragua, Mozambique, Tajikistan, and Tanzania. The World Bank's Operations Evaluation Department joined in some of the research.

In launching the PRSP and PRGF in 1999, the IMF and the World Bank aimed to promote country ownership of anti-poverty programs. The papers defining growth-oriented, poverty-fighting strategies would be written by the countries themselves. Lending and debt-relief programs of the IMF and World Bank would grow out of these strategies. The PRGF-under which the IMF makes loans to poverty-plagued nations-was designed to make "pro-poor" growth the centerpiece of IMF-supported programs.

The evaluation did find some improvements in lending programs. Anti-poverty spending has increased, although questions remain about how "pro-poor" was some of this spending. Programs show greater fiscal flexibility to accommodate higher aid flows. And the IMF-backed programs require fewer structural conditions.

Nevertheless, these improvements do not add up to the envisioned sweeping creation of country-owned strategies, the evaluators said. A major reason for the gap between expectations and results is that incentives focus on producing documents, the evaluation said. Also, benchmarks that measure actual progress are scarce. And little attention is given to differences between countries. Another deficiency is that the PRSP process has not met the goal of fostering debate in poor countries that extends beyond elite circles to the broad populace, including the poor themselves.

Recommendations addressed to countries and to the IMF/World Bank for upgrading the PRSP/PRGF process include:

  • The setting of benchmarks in each country; these would be open to public scrutiny.

     
  • Preparation of clear, candid assessments of progress in each country by IMF and World Bank staff.

     
  • Development of IMF tasks and priorities tailored to each country's circumstances, as opposed to uniform standards for IMF work in all low-income countries.

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Vatican conference on poverty and globalization

The call to reduce the debt burden of poor countries is being sounded again, as concern mounts that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) may be beyond reach of the poorest countries. While greater assistance for many countries is clearly needed, the suggested strategy for fighting poverty faces major practical obstacles, a senior IMF official told a Vatican conference in July.

"On the political front, the constraints to funding debt relief have been severe and the generosity of some of the major creditor countries has been limited, not least because of the weak constituencies for foreign assistance in some of the larger countries," Jack Boorman, consultant and advisor to IMF management, said at a seminar organized by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in Vatican City.

The one-day meeting, "Poverty and Globalization: Financing for Development, including the Millennium Development Goals," took place on July 9. Other participants included Gordon Brown, U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer, and chairman of the International Monetary and Financial Committee, along with representatives of the UN and Catholic NGOs, as well as senior members of the church hierarchy. Representatives of Civil Society Organizations from countries in the global South, including Argentina and Zambia, spoke as well.

Brown lent a note of urgency to the proceedings, depicting prospects for the MDGs as poor under present conditions. Hope for the Goals, he said, lies in adoption of the proposed International Finance Facility (IFF), which is designed to provide up to $50 billion a year in new development assistance between now and 2015 through the proceeds of bond issues to be repaid by donor countries. Brown also called for greater debt relief for the poorest countries, especially their debt to multilateral organizations.

Jean-Pierre Landau, a director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and a former Executive Director of the IMF from France, said that France supports the IFF. But he laid out other ideas tentatively proposed by a French presidential committee assigned to devise ways of creating new aid resources. These include taxes on armaments, on carbon emission, and on international currency transactions. The last is the so-called "Tobin tax," proposed by Nobel laureate economist James Tobin of Yale University. Supporters of the proposed tax estimate that it could bring in revenues of $100 billion-$300 billion a year.

For all of the discussion of ideas to expand the supply of aid funds aimed at the poorest countries, debt relief - including proposed 100 percent write-offs - was the theme most consistently sounded.

In his remarks, Boorman said that debt relief should be viewed in the context of all aid channeled to poor countries. Seen in that light, canceling debt is only one way to direct more funds into social service programs in poor countries, and may not be the most effective way. More financing from donor countries and multilateral lenders is clearly needed to increase the total amount of resources available to fight poverty and to help the poorer countries meet or at least approach the MDGs. But access to new lending by donor countries can be jeopardized by debt relief. When donors grant debt relief, they sometimes compensate by making fewer new aid funds available, Boorman said. From donors' perspective, the step is logical, because both debt relief and new financing draw on national budgets. Boorman also urged the wealthier countries to consider raising the amount of aid they give in the form of grants, as opposed to loans, thereby protecting countries from seeing their debt loads reach unsustainable levels.

Debt relief may be appropriate in some cases in which debt has already reached unsustainable levels, Boorman acknowledged. But widespread debt cancellation raises two other issues apart from the risk to new lending. One is that some level of obligation may be necessary for the creation or strengthening of a "credit culture," Boorman argued. The second issue is one of equitable treatment. Some poor countries would not be eligible for debt relief because they have managed their finances and debt obligations prudently. Paradoxically, this would penalize them vis-à-vis countries that benefit from a debt write-off.

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Civil Society-IMF Dialogue:

IMF/World Bank dialogue with World Council of Churches moves ahead

On May 7, IMF and World Bank staff participated in a meeting with representatives of the World Council of Churches (WCC) at its headquarters in Geneva. It was the fourth in a series of meetings that was initiated in 2002 by correspondence between Konrad Raiser, then General Secretary of the WCC, and former IMF Managing Director Horst Köhler and World Bank President James Wolfensohn. The purposes of the meeting were to review progress in the discussions thus far, and to plan for a possible meeting between the heads of the organizations.

The review of discussions (see Civil Society Newsletter, February 2004) between the Bretton Woods Institutions (BWIs) and the WCC was based partly on two papers distributed at the meeting, one written by WCC representatives, and one prepared by Graham Hacche, Deputy Director of the IMF's External Relations Department, which attempted to clarify areas of agreement and isolate areas of disagreement between the WCC and the BWIs. WCC representatives said that their three main areas of interest for further discussion with the BWIs, including at the planned high-level meeting, are: how to eradicate poverty; justice and human rights; and the "democratization" of the BWIs. The Bank's Katherine Marshall, Director and Counsellor to the President on Values and Ethics, referred to the WCC's apparent underestimation of the importance of the MDGs to the work of the BWIs, and also stated that the Bank's position on human rights was evolving, as were the BWIs' policies on debt reduction and restructuring.

With regard to the planned "high-level meeting", the three parties discussed possible venues, and format. One of the outcomes of such a meeting sought by the WCC would be a public statement of common concerns and objectives. The IMF pointed to the need for more work, whether before or after the high-level meeting, to clarify common ground and divergences of view. As the previous October 2003 meeting in Washington had come to the conclusion that case studies needed to be undertaken to reach greater clarity, participants suggested using the findings of a case study on Honduras, currently being conducted by the German churches, and, at the suggestion of the Bank and Fund representatives, one on Tanzania.

Plans for the case studies, a possible subsequent staff meeting to discuss them, and the high-level meeting, will evolve in the coming weeks.

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Letters from the Field:

Managing Director de Rato meets with Vietnamese NGOs

Susan Adams, Senior Resident Representative, Vietnam

During his visit to Hanoi on June 26, 2004, Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato requested a special meeting with local and international NGOs in Vietnam. He met later that day with representatives from five NGOs (two local and three international). He briefed them on the relations between Vietnam and the IMF; and asked about the particular challenges faced by civil society in Vietnam, and how the IMF could strengthen its partnership with civil society in the country.

The NGO representatives covered a variety of issues, including: the growing problem of HIV/AIDS; the rollout of the Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy of Vietnam to the local/grassroots level; the challenges of developing local human resource capacity; and the linkages between monetary policy and microfinancing.

The Managing Director noted especially the NGOs' concern about the spread of HIV/AIDS and the authorities' cautious response, particularly on the importation of low-cost antiretroviral drugs. The NGOs attributed this cautious stance to concerns that the importation of such medicines at this time might jeopardize Vietnam's negotiations to join the World Trade Organization (WTO). In that regard, de Rato pointed out that new WTO rules now provided legal options for poor countries to import low-cost medicines from third countries to deal with public health problems such as HIV/AIDS. If those rules were not clear, however, they should be clarified, and the Fund should be an advocate for poor countries in that regard. Later in the week, the IMF Hanoi Office followed up on this discussion by attending a conference on the trade and legal aspects of the HIV/AIDS problem in Vietnam.

Vietnam was de Rato's last stop on a week-long tour to Asia in late June, which took him also to Japan, China, and Singapore. This was also his first official travel as Managing Director of the IMF.

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A letter from Quito

David Yuravlivker, Resident Representative, Ecuador

In April, I participated in a meeting sponsored by UNDP to evaluate past dialogue between the government and civil society in Ecuador. The motivation was the government's plan to launch a new round of consultations with civil society on a poverty reduction strategy. There were about 35 attending, including indigenous movements, women's groups, academics, journalists, former high government officials, and local government representatives. Among the lessons drawn were the following:

  • There is no single methodology that fits all types of dialogue. A lot of thought and preparation are needed to bring about a fruitful dialogue.

     
  • To achieve results, it helps to focus on a small number of well-defined issues and to enlist the support of well-chosen facilitators. In 1998, some 25-30 leaders from various sectors and political groups met in closed, intensive periodic retreats to discuss solutions to the Ecuador-Peru conflict (the Cousin dialogue). Two former presidents from the region were the facilitators. The meeting reached a consensus to support the peace process, which led to the 1998 peace agreement, signed by presidents Mahuad and Fujimori.

     
  • Developing a culture of dialogue builds social capital and has value in and of itself. The national dialogue organized by the indigenous movement in 2003, at the start of the current administration, contributed to developing a culture of seeking consensus through dialogue. However, for proposals to materialize there is often a need to overcome limitations in the operations of public sector systems and to ensure continuous commitment from the highest levels of government.

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A field trip to Haute Guinée

Dennis Jones, Resident Representative, Guinea

My field trip to Haute Guinée with AFRICARE gave me first-hand insight into the development needs of some of the isolated parts of Guinea. For a visitor, first there is the problem of access. The trip takes nine hours by road from Conakry (the last 100 km on wholly unpaved roads), and villages have no true road access. The rains did not cause us too many problems going, but on the return trip, the heavens opened, and three hours were added to the journey. Second, communication by other means is virtually nonexistent-there has been no phone service since 2002. And many conveniences that we take for granted, such as electricity and water, can also be absent or difficult to obtain outside the main town.

We found many other problems that affect the lives of people in such remote areas. In that context, it was good to see a number of projects bearing results in terms of agricultural production (new crops, new techniques, longer and more stable production cycles); grain storage, food transformation (soy milk, dried vegetables, oils and creams from nuts); nutrition (nutrition plans, well digging and maintenance, and water treatment); health education (for mothers and infants mainly, but also wider education on sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS awareness); and literacy programs. Many of the projects focus on empowering local groups, with the aid of field coordinators, which often results in strong women's groups that are motivated and appear to moving toward self-sustainability. As income-generating activities develop, greater awareness and use of financial systems become evident, mainly through established micro-finance institutions such as Crédit Rural. These groups seem to be working well, with the local authorities giving visible support, and also assistance from other agencies.

The three villages we visited were of significantly different sizes (one about 100 inhabitants, another of some 800, and the last about 2000), and had had AFRICARE involvement for different periods, which has allowed some assessment of how the projects and the communities can develop. The range of problems to be tackled has moved from mainly questions of availability of basic resources toward matters of internal administration and how to take charge when AFRICARE's direct involvement phases out. This indicates that progress is being made, but highlights the importance of ensuring that clear systems of accountability and for measuring continuing progress (e.g. financial record keeping and health indicators) are put in place.

For more information on AFRICARE, please visit: http://www.usaid.gov/gn/nrm/news/030411_foodforpeace/africareindinguiraye.htm.

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Bulletin Board

If you want to be notified when new documents are published on the IMF website, please sign up for email notification through our website notification system.

Other recent meetings between IMF staff and CSOs

  • On May 12, the Nicaragua mission team, headed by mission chief Philip Young, met with Nicaraguan and British NGOs at IMF headquarters in Washington to discuss the country's economic progress on issues such as external debt, taxation, and the budget.

     
  • On June 3, Global Witness, a U.K.-based NGO that works on the issue of extractive industries transparency, met with Menachem Katz, Assistant Director of the IMF's African Department, Bill Allan and Günther Taube, Section Chief and Senior Economist respectively, Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD), and Anton Op de Beke, Senior Economist in the Policy Development and Review Department (PDR). They also attended a meeting with IMF staff and other Washington-based NGOs. Global Witness asked IMF staff to adopt best practice by individual country teams and Fund departments into the Fund's overall policy and to make revenue transparency a condition of all IMF lending and technical assistance programs.

     
  • Klaus Enders, Assistant Director of the IMF Offices in Europe, participated in a panel discussion on "Does the HIPC Initiative Reach the Poor?" at the bi-annual Katholikentag, the German Catholics' Conference, June 17-18 in Ulm, Germany. Other panelists included representatives from NGOs, faith-based organizations, and the German Development Ministry.

     
  • On June 21, Peter Heller, FAD's Deputy Director, met with U.K.-based NGOs in London to discuss general issues associated with the Fund's role in low-income countries and more specifically on aid absorption for HIV/AIDS. He also met separately three members of a Parliamentary committee working to strengthen the U.K.'s response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa.

     
  • On July 22-23, Jean-Pierre Chauffour, IMF Representative to the WTO, who also liaises with the Geneva-based UN agencies, attended the UN-Social Forum on Human Rights and Poverty, an initiative of the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. This second round of the Social Forum focused on the contribution of human rights approaches to the fight against poverty at the national and international levels. It was organized around four panels, of which two were of more direct relevance to the Fund: (1) poverty and human rights: empowerment of people living in poverty; and (2) the role of human rights in the development of operational strategies to address poverty. The proposed rights-based approach, as some participants highlighted, resonates with many features of existing poverty reduction strategies (PRSs) supported by the Bretton Woods Institutions.

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Upcoming events

  • The 2004 Annual Meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and related meetings and events will be held in Washington, D.C. on October 2-3, 2004. As always, a number of policy dialogue sessions for interested CSO representatives will be organized before and during the Meetings. CSO representatives, like all other visitors, must apply for accreditation in order to gain access to the Annual Meetings venues and related events. For the 2004 Annual Meetings CSOs can request accreditation through a new web-based accreditation system at: https://www.imf.org/external/am/2004/csoreg/reg.asp. The system was launched on July 1 and applications for accreditation from interested CSOs will be accepted through September 3. If you are interested in participating in the Annual Meetings, please apply for accreditation as soon as possible, and immediately proceed to obtain a visa to enter the U.S., if necessary. More information on the accreditation process can be found at: http://www.worldbank.org/civilsociety/.

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Inside the IMF

  • The Fund formally set up a dedicated PSIA group in July, 2004 (see Civil Society Newsletter May 2004). This initiative is the most recent example of the Fund's recognition of the need for a more systematic approach to integrating poverty and the social impact of policies into the design of PRGF-supported programs. The group is situated at the Fiscal Affairs Department of the Fund, within the Expenditure Policy Division, and will be made up of four experts. Two experts joined as of July 1. David Coady, who previously worked at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, has extensive experience in the analysis of tax reform, social expenditures, and program evaluation. Prior to joining IFPRI, Coady was an academic at both University and Queen Mary Colleges in London. Moataz El-Said, who also worked previously at IFPRI, has extensive experience in the application of quantitative techniques to policy issues such as trade and price liberalization and their implications for poverty reduction efforts. The remaining staff is expected to join in the coming months.

     
  • Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Director of the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) since it was set up in 2001, resigned in June to become Deputy Chairman of India's Planning Commission (the Chairman being the Prime Minister). IMF Management and the Executive Board congratulated him on his appointment and expressed their appreciation for his work at the IEO. Ahluwalia also received much feedback from CSOs who said they were saddened by the news of his departure and expressed their respect for the integrity and professionalism he brought to the IEO. David Goldsbrough, the IEO's Deputy Director, will serve as Acting Director until a successor is found.

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Selected speeches

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Selected publications

 

Source