As Philip well knows, but for those of our readers who may be too young to remember, “IMF” was used as a synonym for “recession” in Korea and elsewhere in the Far East in 1998 when the Fund’s policy recommendations were — with some justification — blamed for prolonging and deepening that particular crisis.
The Fund say they’ve learned their lesson since!
Yes. The Fund may have learned its lesson, but it has come a bit late in the day. However, many countries in the Far East also learned a lesson – and much more quickly. And that was never, ever let the IMF near our economices again. As a result, they bolstered their savings rates and generated enromous current accout surpluses that fed the global liquidity glut which we in the West have used to feed bubbles. It is fair, though, to point out that Germany was the principal feeder of the glut in the Eurozone, but we, in Ireland, did avail of the global glut.
The IMF weren’t exactly quick to admit their error, it has to be said.
3 replies on “Rathmines and the IMF”
As Philip well knows, but for those of our readers who may be too young to remember, “IMF” was used as a synonym for “recession” in Korea and elsewhere in the Far East in 1998 when the Fund’s policy recommendations were — with some justification — blamed for prolonging and deepening that particular crisis.
The Fund say they’ve learned their lesson since!
Yes. The Fund may have learned its lesson, but it has come a bit late in the day. However, many countries in the Far East also learned a lesson – and much more quickly. And that was never, ever let the IMF near our economices again. As a result, they bolstered their savings rates and generated enromous current accout surpluses that fed the global liquidity glut which we in the West have used to feed bubbles. It is fair, though, to point out that Germany was the principal feeder of the glut in the Eurozone, but we, in Ireland, did avail of the global glut.
The IMF weren’t exactly quick to admit their error, it has to be said.