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[The I.M.F.] is also revising its lending policies in order to respond more quickly and (at least for certain countries) with less or no conditionality ... it still remains to be seen how the IMF will operate and whether the new resources at its disposal will be adequate in light of the scale of the financing needs emerging and developing countries face. (Turkey, which has long been negotiating with the IMF for a loan, may well be the first important test case for the new IMF.) ... I worry that [these changes] will fall far short of converting the IMF into a true lender of last resort. I just cannot imagine that the Americans and the Europeans will allow the Fund to lend at will -- even for countries that are taken to be "behaving well." And I also worry about so called ex-ante conditionality -- the stamp of approval that countries will need to qualify for these fast-disbursing lines of credit. The IMF has a patchy record with respect to being able to evaluate risks ex ante. It also has too rigid views on what counts as "sound policies."
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Read the full entry at: http://rodrik.typepad.com/
-- "In the tender annals of Political Economy, the idyllic reigns from time immemorial ... the present year of course always excepted." -- A German refugee, circa 1867 --
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