At 75, the IMF and the World Bank look in the mirror



In July 1944, almost a year before the end of World War II, delegates from 44 countries were secluded in the mountains of the US Northeast. to lay the foundations of a system of global economic cooperation. Three weeks later, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) were born.

The agreement is known as the Bretton Woods conference, an exclusive resort in the state of New Hampshire, and was headed by British economist John Maynard Keynes and US Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau.

The ambitious goal: to prop up the world economic prosperity after the war, nothing more and nothing less.

"Nations have discovered that there is no incompatibility between devotion to our countries and joint action, in fact, we have found that, on the contrary, the only true safeguard of our national interest lies in international cooperation," said Morgenthau in the closing dinner, July 22, 1944.

A phrase that today in Washington can not be read without letting out a grimace of irony.

The world has changed since then: the collapse of the Soviet Union and communist systems, the creation of the European Union, the sudden rise of China as a global power, the sustained improvement of the quality of life and the reduction of poverty in the world. developing countries, and the threat of the climate crisis.

75 years later, although both institutions remain standing as the axis of economic capitalism and multilateralism, in the last decade they have experienced major anxieties that have forced them to rethink their role and look in the mirror.

In a speech on the occasion of the anniversary, David Lipton, interim managing director of the Fund, stressed this week in Paris that capitalism "has been the engine of all the successes that we have lived", but -he warned- "is an imperfect system that needs correction on the course ".

On the one hand, the great and deep financial crisis of 2008-2010, which threatened the foundations of the developed economies, put their agility and response capacity to the test.

On the other hand, and paradoxically driven by the United States, the host of Bretton Woods, the return of protectionism and the retreat towards isolationism threatens the very reason of being wielded by Morgenthau seven and a half decades ago.

"Before the crisis of 2008, some even questioned the need for the IMF The crisis changed everything: At a meeting of the G20 in London the members of the informal but powerful club agreed to propose a large increase in the resources of the IMF, which was quickly adopted, "said researchers Brahima Sangafowa Coulibaly and Kemal Dervis of the Brookings Institution in Washington.

Coulibaly and Dervis stressed that the "IMF played a key role of firefighter in conjunction with central banks and finance ministries" to contain the crisis.

But, they warned, "at the same time that the quality of their analysis and the resources available to them, the legitimacy of their governance must be one of the main sources of their strength".

One of the great debates within the two institutions and the shadow that weighs on their credibility is the unwritten agreement that distributes the direction of each of them for a European (IMF) and an American (WB).

"This 'pact' of 75 years ago is outdated and outrageous in the current times.At a time of enormous economic challenges and the rise of populist leaders who question the legitimacy and credibility of multilateralism, there has never been a greater need for a process really democratic and representative, "Nadia Daar, director of the NGO Oxfam, told Efe.

In spite of the insistent calls to the rupture of this "distribution" of power, however, tradition continues to prevail.

The new president of the WB since April is the American David Malpass, at the proposal of Washington and without facing alternative candidates.

And this week, faced with the recent opening of the selection process to replace France's Christine Lagarde at the head of the IMF, the European bloc has already advanced its intention to present a consensus candidate to continue occupying the post.

At 75 years of age it is difficult to change habits.

(tagsToTranslate) anos (t) FMI (t) BM (t) look (t) mirror



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