ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 11, 1997 TAG: 9704110061
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF THE ROANOKE TIMES
In his speech Thursday, John Huddleston called the IMF one of the most effective U.N. agencies.
The International Monetary Fund is not well-known in America, but it's the driving force for creating a global free-market economy, a former IMF official said Monday.
John Huddleston, who has been a consultant with the fund since his retirement, was in Roanoke on Thursday for several appearances. He will speak today to a class in international economics at Hollins College and will address a luncheon meeting of the local Baha'i religious community.
Huddleston said the International Monetary Fund, an independent agency of the United Nations, is controlled by the developed countries. That's because they contribute most of the development funds to the agency and, therefore, enjoy most of the voting power.
The fund, he said, is "fairly successful in its own terms." He said its policies support the post-Cold-War switch by developing countries to free-market economies in the absence of left-wing politics.
He called it one of the most effective U.N. agencies. It reports just once a year to the United Nations General Assembly; it is no accident, he said, that the United Nations is in New York while the fund is based two blocks from the White House in Washington.
Many of its loans are made to Russia as it tries to free its economy from communism, Huddleston said. The fund is micro-managing the Russian economy, doling out the development money in "dollops" as Russia complies with its requirements, such as stepped-up tax collection. In this effort, he said, the fund is "speaking for the rest of the world. No one else could do it."
The fund, he said, has "the experience, money and reputation to be a key player" in globalization of the economy. He said the world has been moving inevitably toward a global economy for the last 400 years, and the pace is accelerating.
On the negative side, he said, the fund may overestimate its own importance, noting that it has failed in its efforts to help Africa.
And, Huddleston said, its intervention "is not always helpful." He said the fund has been rough in its impact on poorer populations in developing nations so that these people have suffered as a result of the fund's economic policies.
But the fund is addressing those issues, he said, and the ending of the Cold War has helped.
Huddleston, who formerly headed budget and planning for the fund, said he is disappointed about the lack of movement toward a single international currency. He said the issue should be debated as a long-term goal because of the huge costs of having multiple currencies.
Debate also centers on whether the rich nations should forgive the fund's loans to about 20 or 30 counties, such as the Sudan, which cannot repay them, he said.
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