International Financial Institutions ( Ifis ) Are Central Pillars And The Architects Of The Global Economy

In the documentary, Christopher Guldbrandsen reveals how Glencore, which is a Swiss company, is making billions of money from copper mining in Zambia. As they do this, the country remains among the poorest in the world. Nobody will be surprised to learn that World Bank and IMF were involved in the business of the mines that later led to the current situation. Many people ask themselves as to when the African countries will stop taking pieces of advice from such institutions. The policies recommended by such institutions have been disastrous for Africa and all other developing nations in other continents. The practice results in a continuous transfer of wealth to the north from the south. Why is the IMF controversial? It is such a pity that the IMF has even tried pushing its policies on China.

One of the purposes for the creation of the World Bank and the IMF was to ensure that financial markets throughout the world are stable, which would be beneficial to the global economy and possibly prevent a global economic depression. However, there are not always positive outcomes for local economies of the countries that are part of these International Financial Institutions (IFI). Haiti was one of these countries that was impacted by the guidelines set in place by these institutions.

Far from being seen as objective entities, the World Trade Organization (WTO), International Monetary Fund (IMF), and World Bank are often conceptualized as instruments of the developed world. It is alleged that they are used to enforce crippling economic policies upon the developing world. To some extent, it is perhaps inevitable that these international institutions are seen as such. The memory of colonial exploitation in Latin America, Africa, and other developing nations runs deep, and the power dynamic of these institutions relative to the nations they are ostensibly helping often echoes the relationship of the colonizing to the colonized.

Throughout this section of the class, the IMF and the World Bank have been studied extensively. All students have come away with different ideas about these two organizations. In the following paragraphs, I will attempt to explain my own thoughts on the IMF and the World Bank. Mainly, that their practices are insufficient for accountability and do threaten the sovereignty of certain nations. I will also attempt to explain why I think this is the case.

First, let us examine how economic policies like the structural adjustment policies implemented by the IMF affect a country. A great example of this is detailed in Ault and Sandberg’s “Our Policies, Their Consequences”, where both authors explore how seriously the structural adjustment policies changed the economic state in Zambia. As these authors point out, the terms of the loans “reflect the economic and political interests and values of the world’s wealthiest nations (470)”. It is seen here already that that does not bode well for Zambia. One clearly can see that globalization is just another way first world nations still colonize the world, but instead through means of economic and trade conquests. Now, the article continues on to talk about the kind of changes that the IMF implemented on Zambia: they wanted them to devalue their currency and stop supporting many domestic programs, social welfare programs, and fire federal employees and instead they wanted them to focus on increasing their exports for the global market. And what are changes without its consequences? Because the IMF favored the growth of international markets, the local economy in Zambia suffered greatly. Devalued

There have been many studies taking place over foreign aid and sub-Saharan Africa since foreign aid initially began after World War 2. Many authors today have begun to ask the question, “Is Africa Different?” (Asiedu 2002). The Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) in the past decade has grown exponentially to 61 percent from the previous 24 percent in 1990. Africa, while seeing a significant increase in amount of investment, still has not seen anywhere near the level of investment that other

The IMF has five unique objectives. The objectives are to promote international monetary cooperation, to facilitate the expansion and balanced growth of international trade, promote exchange stability, assist in the establishment of a multilateral system of payments, and make resources available to members experiencing balance of payment difficulties. Adequate safeguards for principal must always exist to maintain the health and feasibility of the IMF. The IMF primarily focuses on short-term financial problems. Of course, the IMF has an obligation to their member nations whose funding makes their work possible.

The foundation of Moyo’s thesis is that foreign aid flooding Africa for the last half century has not worked and has actually harmed Africa’s growth more than it has helped. Moyo’s references that many countries that have substantially less aid than many of the African countries yet aid have

The IMF is currently accountable to and governed by 189 countries, all of which play a part in delivering its primary goals of “promoting international financial stability and monetary cooperation, through its activities of Surveillance, Financial, and Technical Assistance.” (Imforg, 2016)

The IMF is currently accountable to and governed by 189 countries, all of which play a part in delivering its primary goals of “promoting international financial stability and monetary cooperation, through its activities of Surveillance, Financial, and Technical Assistance.” (Imforg, 2016)

It was extremely difficult to find a lot of resources upon which the World Bank or the IMF had a project that created problems for a nation that received its assistance. I, however, found some sources that talked about the involvements of the IMF and WB into Africa, and these sources hint on Ghana, which will be hinted upon throughout the paper.

nternational Monetary Fund and The World Bank, though has a good purpose of their existence, they have come under lots of criticisms as to how they use the leverage of being in a position of helping poor countries to either recover from economic collapse or give them debt relief and economic boost from loans they give out to them to impose policies and condition that those poor countries has to implement. These loan conditions and policies structured by these international financial power institutions are geared towards moving resources from the poor countries to the rich western countries. The end result is creating a situation where the poor countries sunk into more economic suicidal condition in which they have to still depend on more loans or aids to survive and they would have to comply with any condition attached to the help, due to the urgent need of support.

The International Monetary Fund, otherwise known as the IMF and the World Bank are two of the most economic organizations. While they are both economic organizations, they have different objectives. In order to understand these objectives, one must know why these organizations were formed and what if anything they have accomplished. Based on said accomplishments and also based on their initial goals, one can infer which of the two has been a success. Therefore, it can be said that when it comes to keeping with the original goal as to why the organization was founded, the International Monetary Fund has failed while the World Bank has succeeded.

May 2000, governments and diamond industries collaborate in South Africa in the town of Kimberley to try to put a stop on the diamond trade; trying to get rid of conflict zones

Research and find one project of the World Bank or the IMF that created problems for the nation that received its assistance. Describe the project and what the negative outcomes were. Explain whether or not you feel that the negative impacts could have been avoided? Why or why not? Further explain your opinions on whether you believe that international financial institutions such as these could consistently provide assistance in an objective, unbiased and responsible manner. Why or why not? If you do believe it is possible, then how could it be