[PEN-L:1202] intl sign-on against the IMF quota increase

[Robert Naiman <naimanr@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

--- On Tue, 25 Aug 1998 07:19:21 -0400 (EDT)  Robert Weissman
<rob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Essential Action is joining with Walden Bello of Focus on the Global South
and a number of other groups throughout the world to circulate the
following letter to the U.S. Congress. It urges no increase in the size,
power or funding of the IMF.

The letter is open to signatures from groups or individuals, in the United
States and especially outside of the USA. If you would like to sign,
please send an e-mail message to Robert Naiman of the Preamble Center for
Public Policy <naimanr@xxxxxxxxxxxx>.

Also, please circulate this note and the letter to other appropriate
organizations and lists.

We have a good chance of defeating the proposed quota increase in the U.S.
Congress. It is important that Members of Congress understand this
letter's message that the IMF hurts not helps the world's poor people.

Robert Weissman
Essential Information			|   Internet:	rob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
-----

To: Members of the United States Congress

Re: Why we Oppose the IMF Quota Increase

The undersigned organizations and individuals from around the world are
opposed to any increase in the size, power, or funding of the International
Monetary Fund [IMF], and in particular are opposed to any increase in the
quota of member countries. The disastrous impact of IMF-imposed policies on
workers rights, environmental protection, and economic growth and
development; the crushing debt repayment burden of poor countries as a
result of IMF policies; and the continuing secrecy of IMF operations
provide ample justification for denying increased funding to the IMF.

Economic Growth and Development: The IMFs overwhelming preference for high
interest rates and fiscal austerity, even in the absence of any economic
justification, has caused unnecessary recessions, reduced growth, hindered
economic development, and increased poverty throughout the world. There is
now a consensus among economists that the IMFs recent intervention in the
Asian financial crisis actually worsened its impact. Many believe that the
Fund bears the primary responsibility for turning the financial crisis into
a major regional depression, with tens of millions of people being thrown
into poverty and no end in sight.

Labor: IMF policies undermine the livelihood of working families. IMF
policies have mandated mass layoffs by companies and changes in labor law
to facilitate or encourage mass layoffs, as happened recently in South
Korea. IMF policies regularly force countries to lower wages, or  often
undermine efforts by governments to raise wages-- as, for example, in Haiti
in recent years.

Environment: IMF policies encourage and frequently require the lowering of
environmental standards and the reckless exploitation of natural resources
in debtor countries. The export of natural resources to earn hard currency
to pay foreign debts under IMF mandates damages the environment while
providing no benefit to poor and working people in debtor countries.

Debt: IMF and World Bank policies have forced poor countries to make
foreign debt service a higher priority than basic human needs. The World
Bank claims that it is "sustainable" for countries like Mozambique to pay a
quarter of their export earnings on debt service. Yet after World War II,
Germany was not required to pay more than 3.5% of its export earnings on
debt service. Poor countries today need a ceiling on debt service similar
to the one Germany had. According to UN statistics, if Mozambique were
allowed to spend half of the money on health care and education which it is
now spending on debt service, it would save the lives of 100,000 children
per year.

Openness of IMF operations: IMF policies which affect the lives of a
billion people are negotiated in secret, with key conditions not released
to the public. The people who bear the burden of these policies often do
not even have access to the agreements which have been negotiated.

The policies of the IMF have undermined the ability of developing countries
to provide for the needs of their own peoples. Such an institution should
not be expanded.

Thank you for your consideration of our concerns.

Sincerely,

Walden Bello, Co-director, Focus on the Global South, Bangkok; Professor of
	Sociology and Public Administration, University of the Philippines
Carlos Heredia, Congressman, Mexico
Dennis Brutus, Jubilee 2000 Africa
Noam Chomsky, Professor of Linguistics, Massachusetts Institute of 	
	Technology

Friends of the Earth
50 Years Is Enough Network
Institute for Food and Development Policy -- Food First
FoodFirst Information and Action Network -- USA
Center for Orang Asli Concerns, Malaysia
Development Group for Alternative Policies
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Essential Action
United Church of Christ Network for Environmental and Economic 		
	Responsibility
WorldWise
Campaign for Food Safety (formerly the Pure Food Campaign)
Preamble Center for Public Policy

Patrick Bond, Senior Lecturer in Economic Policy, University of the 	
	Witwatersrand Graduate 	School of Public and Development 	
	Management, Johannesburg, South Africa
Floyd Rudmin, Professor of Social Psychology, University of Tromso, Norway
David V. Carruthers, Department of Political Science, San Diego State 	
	University
Ute Sprenger, Publicist/Consultant,  Berlin, Germany
Peter R Wills, Associate Professor, Department of Physics, University of
	Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

---------------End of Original Message-----------------

-------------------------------
Robert Naiman <naimanr@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Preamble Center for Public Policy
1737 21st NW
Washington, DC 20009
phone: 202-265-3263
fax:   202-265-3647
http://www.preamble.org/
08/25/98 23:33:14
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