Search for other papers by Richard Erb in
Current site
Google Scholar
Abstract
The International Monetary Fund has been playing and will continue to play a major role in supporting African members undertaking adjustment in a difficult external environment. While much attention is usually accorded to its provision of financial assistance, the Fund is, in a larger sense, a collaborative institution that provides all members with opportunities to interact within itself in a number of important ways. Through their full participation in discussions in the Executive Board, the Interim and Development Committees, and the Joint Annual Meetings of the Fund and the Bank, the representatives of African states are able to contribute to the formulation of policies of the Fund in such areas as Fund surveillance, the conditionality associated with the use of Fund resources, and international liquidity, as well as broader questions on the working of the international monetary system. The African countries are also major participants in the Fund’s technical assistance programs, both at headquarters and in the field. If the greater part of my remarks today addresses the Fund’s financial activities in Africa, this is simply a recognition of the extraordinary balance of payments problems that so many African states are encountering and which the Fund is seeking to help alleviate within the framework of its monetary role in the international monetary system. I shall revert to the broader issues of relations between the Fund and its members in the concluding part of my statement.
International Monetary Fund Copyright © 2010-2021. All Rights Reserved.