Interview with IMF Survey: Camdessus discusses prospects for globalization, need to fight "patent injustice" of world poverty

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IMF Survey: What do you see as the most important achievements of your nearly three terms of office? Camdessus: It would be presumptuous of me to put my name on any achievement of the IMF during that period. The sense of pride I feel is the same as any member of the staff or the Executive Board must feel at the end of their careers here. It is the pride and gratitude for having been called to serve the IMF throughout an eventful 13 years.

I believe that the IMF has contributed substantially to the present favorable economic climate. Most important, inflation-which rose in the 1970s and 1980s-is now as low as at any other time in the postwar period. Containing inflation-which I have called the most cruel tax on the poorest countries-is a solid achievement, and the advice and program support provided by the IMF have helped bring this about.

Fiscal balances, which deteriorated during the 1970s and 1980s, have now-owing very often to IMF advice-improved in many countries.

The IMF also played its part in resolving the debt crisis of the 1980s. Although all debt problems are far from resolved, it has been satisfying to be able to help a large number of countries bring their debt to a more sustainable level.

In the meantime, I have also been happy to see a consensus emerging that we should no longer consider growth as a purely quantitative concept but rather as embodying qualitative elements and goals, all of which are encapsulated in the code words "high-quality growth" that we have tried to popularize. We have progressively taken steps forward to establish these objectives.

The globalization of financial markets-while it has benefited global growth, especially in the longer term- has contributed in recent years to several crises that the IMF has helped countries to tackle. While the crisis countries are now recovering, work on the challenge of actually preventing crises is still very much in progress.

After the collapse of the Berlin Wall 10 years ago, the IMF was privileged to play a role in helping the countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union make the difficult transition to a market economy, with the increased freedoms and responsibilities that this move entailed. This was an immense challenge, but there has now been progress in many countries.

Much has been achieved, although much still remains to be done. Above all, a solution to the problem of poverty in developing countries has eluded us. Success has been only Page 386 limited, despite a major expansion of the IMF's work in this area during my tenure. We now look forward to seeing the results of the new approach adopted at the 1999 Annual Meetings, and I welcome the growing global consensus that the issue of poverty alleviation-a pressing human concern-should be brought into the heart of our policies.

IMF Survey: Since you came to the IMF in 1987, a number of far-reaching events have affected the global economy. Among the more conspicuous examples are the breakup of the former Soviet Union and the crises in Mexico and East Asia. How would you assess these events and their impact?

Camdessus: The breakup of the former Soviet Union, followed by the membership of the successor states in the IMF, may well be the most momentous event of our time. For the IMF, it has meant that, for the first time, we have achieved the goal of our founding fathers of a truly universal institution. At the same time, the IMF had to face the great challenges of helping to guide these countries in the transition to a market economy-that is, to an economy of freedom and responsibility. Of course, there have been many problems along the way, but we should not fail to take account of the remarkable progress that has been made by these new...