| 06 June 2007
The IMF has just wasted another slab of your money telling us what we already
knew about Switzerland.
In IMFese, that translates as: 'The Executive Board of the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) has concluded its Article IV consultation with Switzerland. The Swiss
economy is performing well. The expansion moved into its fourth year with above
average growth and employment, and few signs of inflation.'
In yet other words, a team of highly-paid IMF staffers spent a week or more
staying in expensive hotels in Switzerland, taking up the time of senior and
junior Swiss ministers and officials, and have churned out an immense report,
consuming several hectares of Amazonian rain forest, all to tell us nothing
whatsoever.
'The financial sector is performing well in a favorable cyclical setting, bank
profitability is strong, . . . and two large Swiss banks are global players
in wealth management and derivatives markets.' No, you don't say.
'Executive Directors commended the Swiss authorities for their prudent economic
management and sound policy frameworks.'
What is this patronising nonsense? We all know that the IMF, like the World
Bank, is an institution in search of a goal, but how much longer do we have
to put up with such an offensive waste of resources, paid for, I want to remind
you, out of interest income from the Fund's clients, mostly poor, developing
countries? These Article IV consultations take place for all countries, usually
every year. Unbelievable.
The IMF has set up a committee of the great and good to propose new funding
models. Probably it will sell some of its gold reserves to finance a structural
deficit for the next few years. But the committee's time would have been better
spent in deciding how to shrink or wind up this useless institution.
You have been reading an entry on the following blog:
Jeremy Hetherington-Gore Unleashed
Jeremy tackles the difficult issues head on!
Contact: jeremy@lowtax.net
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