Already in the run-up to its annual meeting from 6th to 8th October, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) came under heavy fire. World-famous economists like Jeffrey Sachs, Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz and Milton Friedman called outright for its dissolution. The Fund, they claimed, could do little or nothing at all to help remedy the Asian, Russian or Latin American crises or the crisis on the international financial markets; on the contrary, it was a contributory factor. Its readiness to provide extensive funds fast to countries in crisis and thus safeguard the investments of private creditors in these countries engendered a moral hazard for governments and creditors, which itself was the cause of crises. This socialization of private losses misled international banks and investors into engaging in over-risky financial transactions.
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