IMF critics as cliches

The International Monetary Fund has decided to refurbish the heating, air conditioning and ventilation in one of its headquarter buildings. Cue the predictable outrage from the anti-IMF crowd: Melinda St Louis, deputy director of Jubilee USA Network said: "At this precarious time for the world’s poor, the IMF has just earned at least $2bn [£1.2bn] ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

The International Monetary Fund has decided to refurbish the heating, air conditioning and ventilation in one of its headquarter buildings. Cue the predictable outrage from the anti-IMF crowd:

The International Monetary Fund has decided to refurbish the heating, air conditioning and ventilation in one of its headquarter buildings. Cue the predictable outrage from the anti-IMF crowd:

Melinda St Louis, deputy director of Jubilee USA Network said: "At this precarious time for the world’s poor, the IMF has just earned at least $2bn [£1.2bn] in extra cash from gold sales and now proposes upgrading its already opulent office building in Washington DC.

"Should the IMF get another stunning fountain at its headquarters or should countries in sub-Saharan Africa receive debt relief to invest in clean water for the most vulnerable? Rather than building more marble staircases in DC, the IMF should share its wealth with poor countries that desperately need those funds to build rural health clinics, schools and basic infrastructure."

Peter Chowla, programme manager at the Bretton Woods Project, a thinktank that monitors the activities of the IMF and the World Bank, said: "After a nice financial crisis, the IMF’s balance sheet is looking very health – lots of interest to pour in from Greece and Ireland and commitment fees on money never even lent to Colombia, Mexico and Poland. So the fund is thinking about spending some of the proceeds on remodelling its headquarters."

Ah yes. If only the IMF would work out of trailers in a parking lot and ship the savings to cash-strapped Sub-saharan countries, then we could make some real progress. Are these activists serious when they make comments like these, or are they the non-governmental equivalent of politicians pandering to their base?  

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

Tag: IMF

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