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24 may 2001
cee bankwatch network and friends of the
earth expose un-transparency and hypocrisy in
imf procedures
The IMF, partly due to growing international
criticism of its policies, has initiated a
review on its conditionality and has called
on non- governmental organizations to provide
feedback. "Conditionality" is the term used
by the International Monetary Fund to
describe the conditions attached to IMF
financing. In general, these conditions
consist of the rapid privatization of most
state-owned enterprise, cuts in state
subsidies for health, education, environment
and social support, and trade liberalization.
The CEE Bankwatch Network and Friends of the
Earth - Slovakia responds to the IMF's
request with hesitation and supports its
concerns with a new report outlining
experiences with the IMF in Slovakia.
Jen Kalafut, Slovak National Coordinator
for the CEE Bankwatch Network (BwN),
commented on the IMF's request: "We were
shocked by the request from the IMF due to
the fact that it has been completely
unwilling to release information on its
activities in Slovakia including the
conditionalities. So we have little ability
to effectively participate in, what the Fund
calls, a 'review of conditionality' when we
lack to basic materials to analysis. This
indicates a gross hypocrisy in IMF
procedures."
BwN and Friends of the Earth - Slovakia
(FoE-S) have released a report this month
entitled, "A Thorny Path Towards IMF
Documents" * which reveals the untransparent
practices of the IMF in Slovakia. The report
emphasizes the Fund's insufficient
information policy and complete lack of a
policy regarding public participation which,
in turn, leads to an extreme lack of
transparency and accountability within the
institution. The study continues to explain
in detail the never-ending contingencies
FoE-S had to decipher in an attempt to obtain
documents from the IMF regarding the Fund's
activities.
"These documents are vital in order to
understand the basic operations of the Fund
in the country," states Juraj Zamkovsky,
author of the report and Director of Economy
Program of FoE-S. "Even with the approval
from our Prime Minister, Finance Minister and
Governor of the Central Bank of Slovakia for
the release of all requested materials, the
IMF has still refused to publishing any of
them. Its senior staff continues to make
shallow excuses as to why documentation must
be kept secret." he added.
"It's the IMF's turn now. The Fund has
lost the last solid ground in its efforts to
justify its un-transparent and un-accountable
behavior. It has no opportunity any more to
blame the Slovak government nor anybody else
for lack of willingness to provide the
requested information as it did until now."
commented Jen Kalafut of the BwN.
In response to the Fund's recent request
for comments on conditionality, BwN and FoE-S
described their disappointment in the IMF's
facade of transparency when in practice the
institution remains closed to public
oversight and through harsh conditions,
effectively disempowers citizens to act on
their own behalf.
BwN and FoE-S go on to state that the
refocusing of conditions, the IMF's objective
through this review, will not in itself
eliminate the negative impacts of IMF
policies imposed on countries. Rather, such
an exercise will result in the more efficient
implementation of these policies that have
devastated the livelihoods of people around
the world.
According to BwN and FoE-S the most
important action is that the IMF immediately
stop the implementation of standardized
conditions which ignore cultural, natural and
social diversity around the world. Along with
this it must initiate a transparent,
participatory and independent process for
full environmental and social impact
assessments of past IMF programs and
seriously implement the lessons from such
assessments. However, this will never happen
without strong information and public
participation policies which will be binding
and enforceable. The Slovak case study
described in "A Thorny Path Towards IMF
Documents" proves that these requests are
imperative.
* The complete text of "A Thorny Path
Towards IMF Documents" can be found at:
www.bankwatch.org
For more information, please contact:
Juraj Zamkovsky, Program Director, Friends
of the Earth - Slovakia
zamkovsky@changenet.sk
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