Replacing the International Monetary Fund

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently held its annual meeting in Istanbul on October 6th and 7th. On the surface, the world’s largest gathering of finance ministers and central bank governors should have been a moment of celebration for the IMF – the organization rediscovered its role as lender of last resort to countries in crisis during 2008‐09, received an extra $500 billion from member countries to triple its lending capacity, and in recent weeks has been positioned to manage the much‐hyped “peer review” of countries’ monetary, fiscal, and financial policies.

But just beneath the surface, the problems mount. The IMF’s ability to fight and prevent crises has hit a brick wall, because of long‐standing resentments regarding the extent to which the U.S. and Western Europe dominate the organization.