Stop bashing the lending agencies
Dear Editor,
It has become a regular habit to hear people, some in very influential positions, bashing the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as evil neo-colonial organisations. I heard the Opposition leader of Antigua cursing the IMF as being the source of his island’s problems, and I heard another intellectual calling the IMF the “International Misery Fund”.
These agencies don’t deserve these descriptions. It is not true to say that these agencies are forcing anything on us. Indeed, there are cases of our governments refusing to abide by the recommendations that they sometimes make.
When Jamaica experienced its financial meltdown during the 1990s, some of these lending agencies wanted the Government to allow the laws of the market to run their natural course and allow those financial institutions that were practically bankrupt to collapse. The Government then refused.
Also, when the Government found it difficult to honour its bond payments, some of these lending agencies wanted them to cancel payments due to their creditors. They recommended that the Government cancel its interest payment obligations and pay only 75 per cent of the principal due. Again, the Government refused.
Whenever we hear of IMF-inspired policies we must understand that they are not entirely so. All of the agreements in which we enter with the IMF, World Bank and other lenders are just that — agreements. It is our governments that work out these policies with these agencies. The fact that we borrow their money is proof enough that the terms of these loans were arrived at with our full agreement.
It is unfortunate that people, including politicians, will always seek to gain mileage by blaming these lending agencies for the “oppression” that we face, when in fact the blame really rests with us and our clear inability to manage our own affairs.
Michael A Dingwall
michael_a_dingwall@hotmail.com