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Keep the IMF out of Europe

Monday 5 December 2011 – by Mario I. Blejer and Eduardo Levy Yeyati

Europe is determined to resolve its problems using other people’s money, but there are at least three reasons why the IMF should resist this pressure, according to former Central Bank of Argentina governor Mario Blejer and Brookings Institution senior fellow Eduardo Levy Yeyati.

A short-lived rumor recently suggested that the International Monetary Fund was putting together a €600bn ($803bn) package for Italy to buy its new government about 18 months to implement the necessary adjustment program.

Except for the magnitude of the package, this sounds no different from a standard IMF adjustment program – the kind that we are accustomed to seeing (and criticising) in the developing world. But there is one crucial difference: Italy is part of a select club that does not need outside rescue funds.

So far, programs for the eurozone periphery have been spearheaded and largely financed by European governments, with the IMF contributing financially, but mainly acting as an external consultant – the third party that tells the client the nasty bits while everyone else in the room stares at their shoes.

By contrast, the attempt to crowd multilateral resources into Europe was made explicit by eurozone finance ministers’ call in November for IMF resources to be boosted – preferably through debt-generating bilateral loans,- so that it could “cooperate more closely” with the European Financial Stability Facility.

That means that the short-lived story of Italy’s jumbo IMF package, which was to be funded largely by non-European money, can be regarded as a game changer: while Italy may never receive such a package, Europe, it seems, is determined to resolve its problems using other people’s money.

Related articles:

EU falls short on boosting EFSF fund

IMF beefs up liquidity lending tool

S&P; says 40% chance of EU double dip

Europe predicted to escape double-dip

‘Europe needs help’ says Geithner

To read this article in full, please visit our partner site, Project Syndicate, by clicking here.

Mario I. Blejer is a former Governor of the Central Bank of Argentina. Eduardo Levy Yeyati is Professor of Economics at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2011. www.project-syndicate.org

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