Argentina: The vulture funds

In 2002, Anne Krueger, First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), floated the idea that countries can go bust, advanced her opinion about a possible international mechanism of sovereign debt restructuring, and when considering...

Euro crisis: It is time for European debt restructuring. Will Europe dare to undertake it?

Euro-zone weights a new plan to face the crisis, which will be discussed during the Brussels European Summit, and for which Europe expects to receive support from their G-20 colleagues, in the next Group meeting, which will take place on November 3 and...

The IMF Cultures – Is time ripe to abandon the IMF?

By Raul de Sagastizabal   Hedging behaviour, a high degree of groupthink, intellectual capture, a general mind-set that excludes contrary views, fiefdom battles, inadequate analytical approaches, and lack of accountability should make governments...

IMFs Forecast Mistakes are not Trivial

The storm that threatens the global economy has been raging ever since the toxic assets crisis started five long years ago. That crisis has not ended, or receded, but transformed into multiple crises: from fiscal deficit and sovereign debt to poverty,...

What is Hot Money?

By Raul de Sagastizabal Hot money is the “purely speculative money,” which enters into an economy or an economic sector in order to earn a short-term and/or huge profit and leave quickly, as long as it finds more profit elsewhere. Hot money refers...

Greece, the new failure of the IMF

By Raúl de Sagastizabal The new IMF failure, step by step Monday 8 March 2010. The IMF Director said that Greece does not need an IMF bailout. He believes Greece resolve its debt crisis without an IMF bailout, and today dismissed fears that other European...

Ireland Confirms Billion-Euro Bailout Plea

Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen confirmed Sunday that his country requested financial assistance, which has received the approval of European Union Finance Ministers as well as the IMF (International Monetary Fund). Didier Reynders, Belgium Finance Minister...

Debt Burden Continues to Cripple the South

Between 1970 and 2002, the continent of Africa received some US$540bn in loans. However, a United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) study, Debt Sustainability: Oasis or Mirage? revealed that despite repaying some US$550bn in principal...

Poverty in the Southern Hemisphere

Despite the wondrous technological developments and global wealth generated since the start of the 19th century, billions of people continue to live in the direst conditions of poverty. One of the most prevalent and widely quoted of these poverty measures...

Global Financial Crisis – The Road to the Pittsburgh Summit

It may surprise readers to learn that this World Economic Outlook sees global economic risks as having declined since our last issue in September 2006. Certainly this is at odds with many recent newspaper headlines and commentary, which have focused on...