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• Create Date February 13, 2015
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IMF’s Debt Restructuring Follies

IBON International has released a new policy brief, “IMF’s Debt Restructuring Follies,” which analyzes the policy failures and blunders of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in holding on to its market-based approach to settling sovereign debt. The IMF's failures are most clearly seen in its handling of the massive debt bailout in Greece and in Argentina’s susceptibility and long battle with vulture funds.

While the IMF is currently suffering a crisis of confidence and undertaking an introspective review of its premises, reforms within the institution are extremely limited. The IMF review of its debt policies is devoid of any serious effort to adopt the human rights and social justice framework, or to even just consider non-IMF neutral arbitrators for debt workout.

The IBON policy paper's critique of this IMF initiative ends with a set of policy recommendations, as follows: (1) Formation of a neutral arbitrator independent of the IMF; (2) Creation of an international bankruptcy procedure; (3) Protection against vulture funds; and (4) Strengthening the campaign for citizen debt audits.