| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : FEBRUARY 22, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| INTERNATIONAL -- READERS REPORT
With Friends Like the IMF... (int'l edition) ''In Brazil, the IMF made things worse'' (Editorial, Feb. 1), hits the nail on the head. International Monetary Fund medicine has been the same bland one, and it has invariably failed in both large and small economies. A case in point is Pakistan, where, in 1990, the IMF signed the first extended structural adjustment facility (EFSA) agreement. The conditions attached by the IMF to reduce the deficit from 6.5% to 4% in three years gave rise to a severe economic recession. Although the recipe was not working, each subsequent package that the IMF signed was based on the same formula, thus fueling the fires of the worst economic recession Pakistan has ever seen. Today, 10 years later, Pakistan is in worse shape than at the start of IMF intervention. An expansionary policy based on larger government spending might have done the trick, as suggested in your editorial. Farrukh Mahmood Planning Dept. Royal Commission for Jubail & Yanbu Yanbu-Al-Sinaiyah, Saudi Arabia _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |
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