Rajan: The IMF must professionalise and depoliticise its decisions
Istanbul, June 6 (Hibya) - Eighty years after Bretton Woods, the world must decide whether to reform the IMF to better engage with members and address their challenges—or fail to act and let the Fund fade away, stated Raghuram Rajan, former Governor of the Central Bank of India.
A reformed IMF could help determine new rules for international exchange, for instance, by setting out a preliminary list of issues to be negotiated, taking the changes in the world economy into account, he wrote in the Finance and Development magazine of the IMF and added:
"Given the complexity of the issues, it could bring together a small set of countries to do the initial negotiations under its multilateral consultations framework. If the IMF gains sufficient broad trust, it could shape these new rules and enforce their implementation. It could sharpen its analysis and better advise countries on macroeconomic and external sustainability while lending more effectively to set countries back on track."
The IMF needed perceived legitimacy and good governance, not just to facilitate negotiation of rules and to enforce those rules impartially but also so that it could decide how to deploy its resources correctly, he underlined, stating that, "There are reasons the Western alliance is no longer fit for purpose" an went on as follows:
"Unfortunately, US fears of being overtaken economically and, eventually, militarily, combined with its shrinking fiscal space, mean domestic politics have moved toward greater isolationism. The United States has moved steadily from being the referee, generally motivated by the idea that openness benefits everyone, to becoming a player, wanting openness on its terms.
"Yet it still wants to referee in organisations like the IMF. Politically, it is also challenging for any US or European administration to give up any of the powers they have, no matter how much their holding on diminishes IMF effectiveness."