International money fund. See what "IMF" is in other dictionaries. Main Functions of the IMF International Monetary Fund

The International Monetary Fund is a financial institution, despite the status of a UN special agency, which has gained notoriety. What is the IMF like, what are its functions according to the founding documents and in practice, how fair are the critics who call the fund's financial assistance disastrous for the economy of the lending countries?

The creation of the IMF, the goals of the fund

The concept of a monetary fund, whose mission will be to support financial stability throughout the world, called the "Charter of the IMF" was developed in July 1944 in the course of the Bretton Woods Conference under the auspices of the United Nations, which resolved issues of international financial and monetary interaction after the emerging end of World War II. war.

The date of creation of the IMF (English IMF, or International Monetary Fund) was December 27, 1945 - on this day, representatives of the first 29 countries of the IMF officially signed the final version of the corresponding agreement. De facto, the activities of the organization began only on March 1, 1947, when France took the first IMF loan. Today, the IMF unites 188 states, and the headquarters of the fund is located in Washington.

According to Article 1 of the IMF Charter, the International Monetary Fund has the following objectives:

promotion of cooperation of all countries in the monetary and financial sphere, joint solution of financial problems;

assistance in achieving and maintaining a high level of real incomes and employment of the population of the countries of the world, strengthening and developing the industrial and productive potential of all Member States without exception through the expansion and growth of international trade;

maintaining the stability of the currencies of the member states, preventing the devaluation of national currencies;

assistance in the formation and functioning of a multilateral settlement system for financial transactions between member countries, in the abolition of foreign exchange restrictions that stand in the way of the growth of world trade;

by providing financial assistance to Member States to enable them to correct imbalances in their balance of payments without introducing measures that could harm their national welfare;

to reduce the duration of imbalances in the balance of payments of member countries, while reducing the scale of these violations.

It is noteworthy that the so-called financial assistance of the Fund is provided exclusively in the form of loans, but they are not provided for the implementation of specific projects. The interest on them is small (0.5% per annum), however, lending often does not contribute to the development of the real sector of the economy and the production of competitive products. Shown below is the provision of the fund to various countries since 1972 for 40 years, i.e. from expiration date:

In the first post-war years, Europe was the main borrower of the fund to restore the economy that had suffered during the war. Since the early 1980s, the focus has shifted towards Latin America and Asia, and since the 1990s, Russia and the CIS countries have also played a significant role in loans. Ukraine is still in constant contact with the fund. Finally, since the 2000s, loans have been coming back to Europe, mainly Eastern.

It is noteworthy that the time before the year was the most favorable in the world and the least favorable for the fund - very few loans were required, respectively, the influence of the IMF on the world economy and politics greatly decreased. However, already in 2011, lending quickly recovered its volumes, which continued to grow further, including in connection with the Cypriot and Greek crisis.

From the graph, the IMF policy is clearly visible - to help all (not just poor) countries, focusing on current problems. At the same time, by the way, the complete or almost complete absence of loans to African countries is interesting. Any country in the IMF is either a borrower of the fund, receiving and paying off the loan, or its creditor in accordance with its quota. It can be seen that in addition to the decline before the last global crisis, the average historical amount of loans grew over time - compared to the end of the 80s, Europe in 2012 borrowed about 5-6 times more.

In what currency are loans calculated? The fact is that the IMF has its own non-cash means of payment, called "special drawing rights" (Eng. Special Drawing Rights, SDR). The scale at the top is in billions of SDRs. Formally, it is neither a debt obligation nor a currency.

The SDR rate has been pegged to a basket of 5 currencies since 2016 and is similar to . Nevertheless, there are differences - perhaps the main one is the presence of the Chinese yuan in the amount of almost 11% due to a decrease in the share of the euro. At the time of this article, the SDR exchange rate is 1.45 US dollars. You can see it, for example, here: http://bankir.ru/kurs/sdr-k-dollar-ssha/.

Functions of the IMF

The list of modern functions of the International Monetary Fund largely coincides with the 1st article of the IMF Charter:

expansion of international trade;

assistance to countries in the form of loans;

promotion of interstate interaction in monetary policy;

assistance in the preparation (education, internship) of economic personnel;

stabilization of exchange rates;

advising debtor countries;

development and implementation of world financial statistics standards;

collection, processing and publication of said statistics.

It is interesting that prominent economists criticize not only the methods of the IMF's work with debtor countries (that is, those with outstanding debts to the organization), but also the quality of the statistics published by the fund, as well as analytical reports.

Structure of the International Monetary Fund

The management of the fund and decisions on issuing loans are carried out by:

The Board of Governors is the name of the highest governing body of the International Monetary Fund. It consists of two authorized persons from each Member State - the manager and his deputy;

An executive board of 24 directors who represent certain member states or groups of countries. The head of the executive body - the managing director is invariably the plenipotentiary of Europe, and his first deputy is a US citizen. Eight directors are delegated by the states with the largest quotas in the IMF, the remaining 16 are elected by other participating countries, divided into the corresponding number of groups;

The International Monetary and Financial Committee is formally an advisory body consisting of twenty-four governors, including a representative of the Russian Federation. Performs, in particular, the function of developing strategic decisions regarding the global monetary and financial system;

The IMF Development Committee is another advisory body with similar functions.

Capitalization of the IMF and sources of funds of the fund

As of March 1, 2016, the size of the authorized capital of the IMF was about 467.2 billion SDR. The capital is formed by contributions to the currency fund of the member countries, paying as a rule 25% of the quota in SDR (or one of the world currencies) and the remaining 75% in their own national currency. Quotas are constantly reviewed - since the beginning of the fund's activities, there have already been 15 revisions. In 2015, there was another change with the delegation of about 6% from developed countries towards developing ones.

Important: almost all real decisions are made by a majority of 85% of the votes. At the same time, approximately 17 percent of the quota (for 2016, a contribution of about 42 billion SDRs) belongs to the United States of America, giving them an exclusive right of veto. Japan, which is in second place, has a quota almost three times lower - about 6%. The share of Russia is 2.7% (a contribution of about 6.5 billion SDR). So it is extremely difficult to call the critics of the organization who claim “the IMF is the USA” wrong or biased.




In fact, the United States and the European Union, which often supports them, have a sufficient quota in the IMF to make the vast majority of decisions. The efforts of China, Russia and India to increase quotas in the fund in accordance with the increased weight of these countries in the world economy are opposed by the United States and its allies, who do not want to lose political influence on other IMF countries through the "conditionality" of loans - presenting debtor states with mandatory political - economic requirements.

Nevertheless, one should not think that the financial problems of countries are solved only with the help of IMF money. For example, a recent loan to Greece of more than 300 billion euros was financed by the IMF by less than 10% and, in euro terms, amounted to only about 20 billion euros. A much larger amount - 130 billion € - was allocated by the European Financial Stability Fund, created in June 2010.

In addition to the quotas paid by the participating countries, the sources of financial resources of the monetary fund are:

gold holdings, officially around 90.5 million ounces and valued at SDR 3.2 billion. The organization accepts gold from the participating countries mainly as payment for interest on loans, after which it has the right to send it to finance new loan tranches;

loans from “financially secure” member states;

funds from donor trust funds and credit lines that the G7 and G20 countries open to the fund.

Russia joined the IMF in June 1992, immediately resorting to obtaining a loan. According to eyewitnesses, during one of his first visits to the Kremlin, Clinton was struck by the luxury of the halls and said to a colleague: "Are these people asking us for money?" For 6 years (from August 1992 to the beginning of August 1998), Russia borrowed more than $ 32 billion from the fund in total - however, loans did not help us achieve either the projected reduction in inflation or prevent the August default of 1998. Russia returned the loan from 2000 to 2005 years, taking advantage of rising oil prices, and since 2005 has become a creditor of the fund. The table below shows the distribution of loans in the 1990s and the lender's claims on Russia:




Financial aid or credit needle?

Many experts argue that the recommendations of the creditor fund to IMF borrowing countries de facto radically contradict the principles and goals declared by the Charter. Instead of developing the productive potential of the borrowing countries, they get hooked on the credit needle, while the real incomes of the population do not increase - they fall.

Critics of the fund explain that the conditions for receiving IMF loans are often:

deprivation of the borrowing state of the right to free issue of the national currency;

total privatization, including in areas of natural monopolies (housing and communal services, railway transport);

rejection of protectionist measures to protect domestic producers, support for small and medium businesses;

freedom of movement of capital, allowing their outflow abroad;

cuts in spending on social programs, the elimination of benefits for vulnerable segments of the population, the reduction of salaries in the public sector and pensions.

However, these measures often only exacerbate the crisis in the economy, the impoverishment / impoverishment of the population leads to a decrease in consumption, leading to a decline in production, bankruptcy of enterprises and a deterioration in the filling of the state budget. As a result, the government has to take new loans to pay off the previous ones.

Countries hardest hit by IMF dependency:

Rwanda, where the rejection of state support for farming and the devaluation of the national currency led to a drop in incomes of the population, pushing it into the abyss of a civil war between the Hutus and Tutsis with 1.5 million victims;

Yugoslavia, which collapsed due to problems with the economic alignment of the regions;

Argentina, which declared twice;

Mexico is the birthplace of domesticated corn, which has turned from an exporter of this agricultural crop into an importer.

According to forecasts, this list may be replenished with Ukraine, which is being forced by the creditor fund to raise gas prices. Its rise in price not only hits the pockets of citizens, but also finally nullifies the competitiveness of Ukrainian producers, which has already been undermined by the unfavorable Association Agreement with the EU. Ukraine, together with Romania and Hungary, is the largest current debtor of the International Monetary Fund.

But since there is no subjunctive mood in history, it is impossible to estimate what consequences a situation without financing from the IMF would lead to in different countries. So the position of the fund's defenders is something like this - maybe it didn't work out very well somewhere, but without a loan it would be even worse. And the critics of the fund attack not the very idea of ​​providing a loan, but the conditions accompanying the loan - which, in fact, have an ambiguous effect on the economy and do not prevent corruption, but in many ways look like an increase in the political influence of the main lender. And although the inefficiency of the current lending system is clear to almost everyone, real changes in such a cumbersome and politically important structure cannot happen "at the snap of a finger." What is currently more from the IMF - benefit or harm - everyone decides for himself.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was established simultaneously with the World Bank at a conference of central bank economists and other government officials of the major trading powers in Bretton Woods (USA) in July 1944. The governments of 29 countries signed the IMF Agreement on December 27, 1945. The fund began its activities on March 1, 1947. It has the status of a specialized agency of the United Nations.

The organization was created to restore international trade and create a stable world monetary system. The first country to receive IMF assistance on May 8, 1947, was France - it received $25 million to stabilize the financial system that had suffered during the German occupation.

At present, the main tasks of the fund are to coordinate the monetary and financial policies of the member countries, to provide them with short-term loans to regulate the balance of payments and maintain exchange rates.

The IMF played an important role in keeping the Bretton Woods agreements functioning, which consisted of a fixed price for gold and fixed exchange rates against the dollar (freely exchangeable for gold). In the first decades, the IMF most often issued loans to European countries to maintain a trade balance with the United States: Great Britain, France, Germany and other countries had to buy the dollar at a greatly inflated price due to its peg to gold (providing the dollar with gold for 25 years after the end of World War II the war was reduced from 55 to 22%). In particular, in 1966, the UK received $4.3 billion to prevent the devaluation of the pound sterling, but on November 18, 1967, the British currency still depreciated by 14.3%, from $2.8 to $2.4 per pound.

In 1971, due to rising military spending, the United States abolished the free exchange of dollars for gold for foreign governments: the Bretton Woods system ceased to exist. It was replaced by a new principle based on the free trade of currency (the Jamaican Monetary System). After that, Western Europe no longer had to buy an overvalued dollar against gold and resort to IMF assistance to correct the trade balance. In this environment, the IMF switched to lending to developing countries. The reasons were the crises of oil importers after the crises of 1973 and 1979, the subsequent crises of the world economy and the transition to a market economy of the former socialist countries.

Starting in the 1970s, the IMF began to actively put forward demands on borrowing countries for structural economic reforms (the very possibility of making demands was introduced as early as 1952). Among the typical conditions for the allocation of loans was the reduction of state funding for agriculture and industry, the removal of barriers to imports, and the privatization of enterprises. IMF experts stated that these reforms would help states build an efficient market economy, however, the UN Conference on Trade and Development, as well as many experts, pointed out that the actions of the fund only worsened the situation of states, in particular, led to a significant decrease in food production and hunger. For a long time, Argentina, which began borrowing money from the Fund in 1985, was considered a model for the effective implementation of IMF recommendations, but in 2001 the state's economic policy led to a default and a protracted crisis.

The main sources of financial resources of the IMF are the quotas of the member states of the organization. Since 1967, the IMF has been issuing a global reserve payment unit for domestic settlements, known as special drawing rights (SDRs). It has a non-cash form, is used to regulate the balance of payments and can be exchanged for currency within the organization. The IMF's main source of financing is the member states' quotas, which are transferred upon joining the organization and can subsequently be increased. The total resource of quotas is SDR 238 billion, or about $368 billion, of which Russia's share is SDR 5.95 billion (about $9.2 billion), or 2.5% of the total quotas. The largest share belongs to the United States - 42.12 billion SDR (about $65.2 billion), or 17.69% of the total quotas.

In 2010, the G20 leaders agreed in Seoul to revise quotas in favor of developing countries. As a result of the 14th quota review, their total size will be doubled, from SDR 238.4 billion to SDR 476.8 billion, in addition, more than 6% of quotas will be reallocated from developed countries to developing countries. So far, this review of quotas has been ratified by the United States.

The supreme body of the IMF is the Board of Governors, which consists of two people (manager and his deputy) from each country - a member of the organization. Typically, these positions are occupied by finance ministers or heads of central banks. Traditionally, the Board of Governors meets once a year. At present, the representative of the Russian Federation in the council is the head of the Russian Ministry of Finance Anton Siluanov.

Administrative functions and day-to-day management are entrusted to the Managing Director (since 2011 this post has been occupied by Christine Lagarde) and the Board of Executive Directors, which consists of 24 people (eight directors are appointed from the USA, Germany, Japan, Great Britain, France, China, Saudi Arabia and The Russian Federation, the rest represent groups of states (for example, Northern Europe, North and South South America, etc.) Each of the directors has a certain number of votes depending on the size of the country's economy and its quota in the IMF.The Board is re-elected every 2 years. The Russian Federation has 2.39% of the total number of votes, the US has the most votes - 16.75%.

As of August 2014, the largest IMF borrowers are Greece (with about $4.5 billion in loans), Ukraine (about $3 billion) and Portugal (about $2.3 billion). In addition, loans to maintain the stability of the national economy have been approved for Mexico, Poland, Colombia and Morocco. At the same time, Ireland has the largest debt to the IMF, about $30 billion.

Russia last received money from the IMF in 1999. In total, from 1992 to 1999, the IMF allocated $26.992 billion to Russia. The full repayment of Russia's debt to the IMF was announced on February 1, 2005.

The number of IMF employees is about 2.6 thousand in 142 countries of the world.

The organization is headquartered in Washington, DC.

International Monetary Fund

International Monetary Fund, IMF(English) International Monetary Fund, IMF listen)) is a specialized agency of the United Nations, headquartered in Washington, United States.

Main lending mechanisms

1. reserve share. The first portion of foreign currency that a member country can purchase from the IMF within 25% of the quota was called "gold" before the Jamaica Agreement, and since 1978 - the reserve share (Reserve Tranche). The reserve share is defined as the excess of the quota of a member country over the amount in the account of the National Currency Fund of that country. If the IMF uses part of the national currency of a member country to provide credit to other countries, then the reserve share of such a country increases accordingly. The outstanding amount of loans made by a member country to the Fund under the NHS and NHA loan agreements constitutes its credit position. The reserve share and lending position together constitute the "reserve position" of an IMF member country.

2. credit shares. Funds in foreign currency that can be purchased by a member country in excess of the reserve share (in case of its full use, the IMF's holdings in the country's currency reach 100% of the quota) are divided into four credit shares, or tranches (Credit Tranches), which make up 25% of the quota . Member countries' access to IMF credit resources within the framework of credit shares is limited: the amount of the country's currency in the IMF's assets cannot exceed 200% of its quota (including 75% of the quota paid by subscription). Thus, the maximum amount of credit that a country can receive from the Fund as a result of using the reserve and loan shares is 125% of its quota. However, the charter gives the IMF the right to suspend this restriction. On this basis, the Fund's resources in many cases are used in amounts exceeding the limit fixed in the statute. Therefore, the concept of "upper credit shares" (Upper Credit Tranches) began to mean not only 75% of the quota, as in the early period of the IMF, but amounts exceeding the first credit share.

3. Stand-By Arrangements Stand-by Arrangements) (since 1952) provide a member country with a guarantee that, within a certain amount and during the term of the agreement, subject to the agreed conditions, the country can freely receive foreign currency from the IMF in exchange for national. This practice of granting loans is the opening of a line of credit. If the use of the first credit share can be made in the form of a direct purchase of foreign currency after the approval of the request by the Fund, then the allocation of funds against the upper credit shares is usually carried out through arrangements with member countries on standby credits. From the 1950s to the mid-1970s, stand-by credit agreements had a term of up to a year, since 1977 - up to 18 months and even up to 3 years due to the increase in balance of payments deficits.

4. Extended Lending Facility(English) Extended Fund Facility) (since 1974) supplemented the reserve and credit shares. It is designed to provide loans for longer periods and in larger amounts in relation to quotas than under normal loan shares. The basis for a country's request to the IMF for a loan under extended lending is a serious imbalance in the balance of payments caused by adverse structural changes in production, trade or prices. Extended loans are usually provided for three years, if necessary - up to four years, in certain portions (tranches) at fixed intervals - once every six months, quarterly or (in some cases) monthly. The main purpose of stand-by and extended loans is to assist IMF member countries in implementing macroeconomic stabilization programs or structural reforms. The Fund requires the borrowing country to fulfill certain conditions, and the degree of their rigidity increases as you move from one credit share to another. Certain conditions must be met before obtaining a loan. The obligations of the borrowing country, which provide for the implementation of appropriate financial and economic measures, are recorded in the "Letter of intent" (Letter of intent) or Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies sent to the IMF. The course of fulfillment of obligations by the country - the recipient of the loan is monitored by periodically evaluating the special target performance criteria provided for by the agreement. These criteria can be either quantitative, referring to certain macroeconomic indicators, or structural, reflecting institutional changes. If the IMF considers that a country uses a loan in contradiction with the goals of the Fund, does not fulfill its obligations, it may limit its lending, refuse to provide the next tranche. Thus, this mechanism allows the IMF to exert economic pressure on borrowing countries.

The IMF provides loans with a number of requirements - freedom of movement of capital, privatization (including natural monopolies - rail transport and utilities), minimization or even elimination of government spending on social programs - education, health care, cheaper housing, public transport, etc. P.; refusal to protect the environment; reduction of salaries, restriction of the rights of workers; increased tax pressure on the poor, etc.

According to Michel Chosudovsky,

IMF-sponsored programs since then have consistently continued to destroy the industrial sector and have gradually dismantled the Yugoslav welfare state. The restructuring agreements increased the external debt and provided the mandate for the devaluation of the Yugoslav currency, which hit hard on Yugoslav living standards. This initial round of restructuring laid the foundations for it. During the 1980s, the IMF periodically prescribed further doses of its bitter "economic therapy" while the Yugoslav economy slowly slipped into a coma. Industrial production had sunk to a 10 percent drop by 1990, with all the predictable social consequences.

Most of the loans issued by the IMF to Yugoslavia in the 80s went to service this debt and solve problems caused by the implementation of IMF prescriptions. The Foundation forced Yugoslavia to stop the economic alignment of the regions, which led to the growth of separatism and further civil war, which claimed the lives of 600 thousand people.

In the 1980s, the Mexican economy collapsed due to a sharp drop in oil prices. The IMF began to act: loans were issued in exchange for large-scale privatization, cuts in government spending, etc. Up to 57% of government spending was spent on paying off external debt. As a result, about $45 billion left the country. Unemployment reached 40% of the economically active population. The country was forced to join NAFTA and provide huge benefits to American corporations. The incomes of Mexican workers instantly fell.

As a result of the reforms, Mexico - the country where corn was first domesticated - began to import it. The support system for Mexican farms was completely destroyed. After the country joined NAFTA in 1994, liberalization went even faster, protectionist tariffs began to be eliminated. The United States, however, did not deprive its farmers of support and actively supplied corn to Mexico.

The proposal to take and then pay off external debt in foreign currency leads to an orientation of the economy exclusively to export, regardless of any food security measures (as was the case in many African countries, the Philippines, etc.).

see also

• Member States of the IMF

Notes

Literature

• Cornelius Luca Trading in the global currency markets = Trading in the Global Currency Markets. - M .: Alpina Publisher, 2005. - 716 p. - ISBN 5-9614-0206-1

Links

• IMF Governance Structure and Member Voices (see table on page 15)
• The Chinese Renmin Ribao should become the President of the IMF 19.05.2011
• Egorov A. V. "International financial infrastructure", Moscow: Linor, 2009. ISBN 978-5-900889-28-3
• Alexander Tarasov "Argentina is another victim of the IMF"
• The IMF can be dissolved? Yuri Sigov. "Business Week", 2007
• IMF loan: pleasure for the rich and violence for the poor. Andrew Ganzha. "Telegraph", 2008 - link copy of the article does not work
• International Monetary Fund (IMF) "First Moscow Currency Advisors", 2009

IMF- intergovernmental monetary and credit organization to promote international monetary cooperation on the basis of consultations of its members and the provision of loans to them.

It was created by decision of the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944 with the participation of delegates from 44 countries. The IMF began functioning in May 1946.

The International Monetary Fund collects and processes statistical data on international payments, foreign exchange resources, the amount of foreign exchange reserves, etc. The IMF Charter obliges countries, when receiving loans, to provide information on the state of the country's economy, gold and foreign exchange reserves, etc. In addition, the country that took the loan must comply with the recommendations of the IMF to improve its economy.

The main task of the IMF is to maintain world stability. In addition, the tasks of the IMF include informing all members of the IMF about changes in the financial and other member countries.

More than 180 countries of the world are members of the IMF. When joining the IMF, each country contributes a certain amount of money as a membership fee, which is called a quota.

• education for lending to participating countries;
• determining the amount that a country can receive in the event of financial difficulties;
• determining the number of votes a participating country receives.

Quotas are reviewed periodically. The United States has the highest quota and, accordingly, the number of votes (it is just over 17%).

The procedure for granting loans

The IMF provides loans only for stabilizing the economy, bringing it out of the crisis, but not for economic development.

The procedure for granting a loan is as follows: they are provided for a period of 3 to 5 years at a slightly lower market rate. The transfer of the loan is carried out in installments, tranches. The interval between tranches can be from one to three years. This procedure is designed to control the use of credit. If the country does not fulfill its obligations to the IMF, then the transfer of the next tranche is postponed.

Before granting a loan, the IMF conducts a system of consultations. Several representatives of the fund travel to the country that has applied for a loan, collect statistical information on various economic indicators (price levels, employment levels, tax revenues, etc.) and compile a Report on the results of the study. Then the Report is discussed at a meeting of the IMF Executive Board, which develops recommendations and proposals for improving the country's economic situation.

• Promote the development of international cooperation in the monetary and financial field within the framework of a permanent institution that provides a mechanism for consultation and joint work on international monetary and financial problems.
• To promote the process of expansion and balanced growth of international trade and thereby achieve and maintain a high level of employment and real incomes, as well as the development of the productive resources of all Member States.
• promote currency stability, maintain an orderly exchange regime among member states and avoid using currency devaluations to gain competitive advantage.
• Assist in the establishment of a multilateral system of settlements for current transactions between member countries, as well as in elimination of currency restrictions that hinder growth.
• By temporarily making the Fund's general resources available to Member States, subject to adequate safeguards, to create a state of confidence in them, thus ensuring the ability to correct imbalances in their balance of payments without resorting to measures that could be detrimental to welfare at the national or international level.

Strauss-Kahn continues to fight for political survival, with supporters claiming the harassment allegations are a conspiracy. At the same time, within the International Monetary Fund (IMF) itself, the struggle for the post of head has already begun. Emerging economies demand that this prestigious seat be given to them, but the Europeans do not give up their claims either.

The International Monetary Fund is a $325 billion organization headquartered in Washington DC. Until very recently, the IMF had only one main issue - saving the euro. The share of this fund in aid packages for Greece, Ireland and Portugal is 78.5 billion euros. Quietly and effectively, the fund acted as an intermediary between Europe's debtors and donors.

After the arrest of the head of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, which was carried out on Saturday evening, New York time, the fund itself became a toy for representatives of various interests. The once-powerful head of the IMF continues to fight for his political survival. His supporters are spreading rumors and evidence that the attempted rape charge is a secret service-style conspiracy. DSK - as it is sometimes abbreviated - did not allegedly attempt to rape the maid at New York's Sofitel hotel, as that was when he allegedly dined with his daughter.

Installed that nothing is installed. It is believed throughout the world that one should not rush to condemn him. Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel also said yesterday that the results of the investigation should be awaited.

She said so, but she did it differently. A few minutes later, Merkel, speaking on behalf of Europe, announced her claims to the position of head of the IMF: although in principle this is correct, and in the “medium term”, according to Merkel, countries with developing economies can claim leading positions in international organizations. “However, I believe that in today's conditions, when we have a lot of discussions about the European space, there are good reasons for Europe to have good candidates at its disposal,” she stressed.

Since ignoring one's own interests costs nothing, Merkel gave hope to emerging economies: "The conditions in the IMF should reflect the balance of power in the world," Merkel said at the G20 summit in Seoul. Shortly before this, the 20 major economies of the world decided to increase the share of the vote of countries with developing economies. The words of the head of the Eurogroup Jean-Claude Juncker (Jean-Cluade Juncker) sounded even more definite. Strauss-Kahn is "the last European" to head the IMF "for the foreseeable future," he said back in 2007.

Countries with developing economies have responded joyfully to this opinion of the West. It is high time to move away from a model dominated only by industrialized states, said Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega.

Now comes the sobering up. And after sobering up, the struggle for power begins. Berlin announced yesterday that it was conducting soundings "with our European friends" on the issue of a candidate for the head of the IMF.

The struggle of emerging economies for more influence in the IMF began even before Strauss-Kahn's arrest. In April of this year, Brazil's finance minister complained that the Americans regularly run the World Bank and the Europeans run the IMF. Such a system, in his opinion, is already outdated. These posts should be distributed according to ability, and the process itself should be transparent, demanded the Brazilian.

In other words, those countries that are driving global growth - that is, China, India, and Brazil - should have a chance to take leadership positions in the future. The share of the leading countries with developing economies in the global gross domestic product in the last 20 years alone (by 2010) increased from 10.4% to 24.2%, while the share of the seven largest industrial countries, on the contrary, decreased from 64.9% to 50 .7%.

Therefore, back in the fall, countries with developing economies received additional votes in the IMF. The finance ministers of the 20 largest industrialized and emerging economies (G20) have decided to distribute almost 6% of the voting rights previously held by industrial powers among countries such as China, India, Brazil and Russia. As a result of the reform, these four countries received more rights and more responsibility in the executive directorate of the International Monetary Fund. In March, this reform came into force.

Now they require changes on a personal level as well. That is why, immediately after the events with Dominique Strauss-Kahn in New York, the name of Turkish politician Kemal Dervis began to be mentioned more and more often. The architect of Turkey's ten-year-old economic reforms and longtime senior World Bank official comes from an emerging economy and is considered a brilliant economist. Since he is from Turkey, he could apparently be in the business of building bridges between Asia, Europe and the United States.

His work at the Washington-based World Bank has provided him with excellent connections. And in Europe, he no longer has the image of a person who primarily protects the interests of Turkey. Kemal Dervis is now seen more as an international economist who happens to hold a Turkish passport.

Dervis' name was already mentioned at the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank, which took place almost a week ago in the Vietnamese city of Hanoi. Maybe it's time for an Asian to head the IMF. Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz also thinks he's an excellent candidate, as he said in a private discussion on Monday.

The Chinese leadership is rather reserved in connection with the threatening departure of Strauss-Kahn, but in fact, this scandal suits Beijing quite well - the European leaves his post in disgrace, and this creates the conditions for reviewing the existing structures. The informal agreement of the industrialized states that the European should always be at the head of the International Monetary Fund is irritating this rising economic power. From the Chinese point of view, this kind of arrangement is outdated and reminiscent of the times of colonialism.

Americans and Europeans can share leadership positions between themselves, since together they have enough votes to block other proposals. Even after the reform, China, as the second largest economy in the world, has 3.82% of the vote and is far behind the US, which has almost 17%. These figures also reflect the share of participation in invested capital. China, of course, would be willing to pay more for more influence, but under existing rules, it cannot do so.

That is why the Chinese at meetings like the G20 constantly advocate the introduction of a system that would more accurately reflect the world's economic realities. They see themselves as champions of the rights of other emerging economies, and besides, the Chinese secretly hope to secure a leading international role in this way.

Other emerging economies, including India and Russia, are far less ambitious about IMF reform. "They want to solve the problems they currently have, but they don't intend to rewrite the global rules of the game," said Paris-Dauphine University economist Jean Pisani-Ferry. China also assumes that it is not yet in a position to press its demands - after all, its own national currency is not yet freely convertible.

This is also why French government circles are discussing the idea of ​​keeping the existing structures and instead of Strauss-Kahn sending an internationally reputed Treasury Secretary Christine Lagarde to Washington. On paper, she
looks like a very suitable candidate: while working as a lawyer, she met all the major figures in the financial world, and during the financial crisis she earned herself a reputation as a charming but exceptionally tough negotiating partner. In addition, the post of head of the IMF could open up additional prospects for her, especially given the possible defeat of her boss, Nicolas Sarkozy, in the 2012 presidential election. So far, judging by the official statements made, she plans to compete for the mandate of a simple member of parliament.

Her problem: "The DSK case has undermined the credibility of France and their candidates for high international positions," they say in Paris. DSC is the internationally accepted abbreviation for Dominique Strauss-Kahn. In addition, Lagarde herself became a participant in a high-profile case, which, however, cannot be compared with the problems of Strauss-Kahn. She is accused of using her influence to win a favorable ruling for the well-known French entrepreneur in a dispute between the state and Bernard Tapie over the sale of a stake in Adidas. This case has not received much international publicity, but it may become an obstacle in the event that Lagarde will apply for the post of head of the IMF.

When it comes to such responsible positions as the head of the IMF, the candidate will be screened - and now for real - twice as carefully.