Editor, Allow me to react to the article, “IMF chief Lagarde to visit next week” (The New Times, January 16) It has been widely documented that the economic prescriptions proposed by the triadic of World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the United States Treasury to develop poor countries have failed. Particularly, due to the conditions associated with loans, such as privatisation and other types of structural programmes. Joseph Stiglitz, a professor and a former World Bank chief economist, has highlighted that IMF is a major obstacle to developing world; it serves Western interests only by encouraging privatisation so as to open the market for the international companies in order to take away poor countries assets. In his firsthand account, Stiglitz saw that IMF has impoverished more than 100 countries worldwide causing the collapse of national economies, currency crisis, stagnation and recession of nation economies, financial crisis and state bashing. So, we cannot close the doors for our IMF visitor, but we have to be careful before welcoming her with open arms. Butare
