The Monetary Fund, is it or is it done?

The political authorities of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), especially its director general, Christine Lagarde, do not know how to continue to congratulate the Argentine government for the smooth running of its economic program. The vast majority of Argentines, in the light of our individual reality, we wonder on what basis they say what they say. How is it that for the IMF, the program works, but in our country nobody notices it.

In this regard, I interviewed Frenchman Pierre Paul Schweitzer (1912-1994), who held several important positions in his country, including the presidency of the Banque de France, before becoming managing director of the IMF, since 39, he held his position between 1963 and 1973. He was the nephew of Albert Schweitzer, nicknamed "the doctor of Lambarene".

-Félix Gilberto Elizalde, President of the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic between 1963 and 1966, spoke of the very good relations that have been formed between you.

-I remember her perfectly and I have always regretted that the most talented member of the economic team of President Arturo Humberto Illia died so young. At that time, the Fund was in favor of setting the exchange rate, but Elizalde told me that Argentina preferred the
crawling picket, to change the nominal exchange rate according to the difference between domestic and international inflation rates. Contrary to what John Harold Williamson says, the
picket It is an Argentine invention.

-What did you say to Elizalde as a result of this proposal?

– That he has tried, because to whom he has an executive responsibility he must always give him the benefit of the doubt. Adding that if it worked, I would support it and if not, we would talk about it again. It worked and I obeyed.

– How is it understood that the IMF is so favorable to the Argentine economic program, in the light of the results obtained so far?

-The Fund is not a building, but a group of people who fulfill different roles. Assigning opinions to a building, for example a street (for example, when it is said that "Wall Street thinks") is totally absurd.

-Persons, roles, what do you mean in particular?

-To three levels. Because of its greater visibility, one of them corresponds to the Director General, a position that has always been in the hands of Europeans. Since the Fund's inception in 1944, it was occupied by 11 people: five French, two Swedes and one from Germany, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands.

-What are the other two levels?

– On the one hand, the board of directors of the Fund, which originally was composed of 20 members and today has 24 members, some of whom represent individual countries, and other groups of countries.

– And the other level?

Officials who provide technical knowledge to the other two. Jacques Jacobus Polak, John Marcus Fleming and Robert Alexander Mundell have developed models operating at the IMF. Some managers deal with the operation, others conduct applied research and there is often friction between them. Guillermo Antonio Roberto Calvo suffered the consequences of one of these tussles.

-What of the three levels is telling the truth?

-Everyone tells his truth. Due to the way in which President Macri acts politically at the international level, Argentina has obtained more resources from the Fund, with fewer conditionalities, than if the usual conditions had been. Please, Argentineans, do not abuse this, as the General Manager and the Board of Directors may change their minds.

– And the bureaucracy?

-Express professional doubts, which coincide with those of most Argentinian economists. Only technical concerns, career officials are sent to the other two levels, although sometimes the information is filtered.

– In the politicized plan, it is good to throw at the IMF the fault of all the evils of which the citizens suffer.

-I am not an amateur of conspiracy explanations, but I notice that from the perspective of a given country, the badysis done by the Fund may not be the more precise. Why is an IMF bureaucrat going away from the "booklet"? Remember that, as Henry Kissinger said, advisers are never penalized for alerting on events that have not occurred, but for not having warned them.

-What do you mean by that?

– That the anecdote that I told when negotiating with Elizalde is more an exception than the rule. The Fund may be willing to modify part of the program, but the proposal from Argentina must be based on sound technical grounds.

– I have the impression that regarding the current economic policy, the Argentineans are more demanding than the IMF.

-More demanding than the general manager and the board of directors, but no more demanding than the bureaucracy of the body. If you were right, you would have to tell the executive branch of your country that the success of your economic program will be perceived in terms of decisions when, for example, those who have the means to invest.

-Don Pierre, thank you very much.