Madam, - The entire international community, including the International Monetary Fund, must take responsibility for failures in preventing and responding to food shortages in Africa. However, Graham Hacche of the IMF (February 16th) raises a critical issue with respect to its role and the aid promises of donors.
The IMF is an inter-governmental body, controlled by the finance ministries of the wealthy countries of this world. It is highly conservative in its "advice" to developing countries' governments.
The IMF is the gatekeeper of development finance to poor countries. If a poor country does not fulfil the IMF's macro-economic policy conditions, wealthy aid donors often stop giving money directly to the governments of those countries.
Should the IMF have this role? Certainly not. It does not have the ability to identify the fragile political balance that needs to be maintained, nor the role aid has to play in this equation. It has also been proven to be incapable of assessing the impact of its policies on poor people and changing its policies accordingly.
Structural adjustment policies, not just of the IMF but also of the World Bank in the 1980s and 1990s, were deeply damaging to the poor. This is indisputable. If proof is needed, many Trócaire partners and Irish missionaries can testify to the devastating impact of these policies, such as "user fees", on the basic health and education of poor people.
But donors are also at fault. The IMF argues - correctly - that it cannot advise governments to spend aid money which may not be delivered. Donors need to make commitments to multi-annual funding for poor country governments. That means that a government preparing a five-year plan for agriculture or health would know it would have the resources to continue to fund the plan throughout that period. At present, many African governments do not know from one year to the next whether aid will come or not. This weakens political systems and prevents public sector development.
All donors, including the IMF, need to create policies which are fairer. Delivering aid in a predictable manner is one way to reduce the IMF's "gatekeeper" role and to support long-term development. - Yours, etc,
CAOIBHE DE BARRA, Policy & Advocacy Programme Co-Ordinator, Trócaire, Maynooth, Co Kildare.