This paper presents a review of the principal issues emerging from an IMF Conference held in March 1983. The special drawing right has been conceived in the 1960s and has been formally provided in the first amendment to the Articles of Agreement of the IMF, which took effect in 1969. Upon the...

This paper highlights the sources of payments problems in less developed countries. Growth in the industrial countries has a direct impact on the current account of the developing countries through its influence on both the prices and volumes of their exports. An increase in the real effective...

This paper anlayzes the role of the International Financial Corporation (IFC) in promoting economic development in developing countries with the private sector. IFC promotes growth of new companies, indigenous companies, and helps to introduce more capital from private sources into developing...

This paper elaborates the introduction of surveillance that gave the IMF broader responsibilities with respect to oversight of its members’ policies than existed under the par value system. The IMF’s purview has been broadened under the new system but, by the same token, its members are no...

This paper examines the trade and pricing policies in world agriculture. In the United States, the government pays farmers not to grow cereals and in the European Community, farmers are paid to grow more. Many have raised nominal producer prices but followed macroeconomic and exchange rate...

This paper describes the World Bank’s mission in a changing world. Conditionality of the Bank is different in several ways as it operates over a longer timeframe and relates to the more comfortable issues of economic growth rather than financial stabilization. The longer timeframes of the...

The issue of capital flight from developing countries is discussed. The debt problems of developing countries coupled with the sharp decline in international lending to many countries have evoked great interest in the issue of private capital outflows, or capital flight, from these countries...

This paper reviews the World Bank lending for structural adjustment. The World Bank has always stressed the need to use limited investable resources efficiently. It has attempted to identify investment priorities in recipient countries and lent for projects that promised a high rate of return....

The enhancement of the IMF’s structural adjustment facility is discussed. In its April 1987 meeting, the IMF’s Interim Committee highlighted the plight of low-income countries, and outlined a strategy for their recovery. It emphasized that it is crucial for these countries to implement...

This paper examines the policy implications of structural changes in financial markets. Domestic financial markets have become less segmented, and the major financial centers more integrated. At the same time, the structural changes in financial markets have improved efficiency by lowering...