The IMF and the World Bank have been blamed for propping up the current world economic framework which, as many have shown, has not served the majority of the world's peoples very well. But that's a debate for another day.The IMF has played a major role in the development of the economic framework in this country. Its various opinions on our economic policies has been taken very seriously by our government from the times of Quett Masire as Finance Minister to the current era of Kenneth Matambo. The IMF contigent which makes a trip down here on a regular basis to review the state of our economy, always brings about interesting conclusions.
Almost always, they are located from an economic philosophical place more or less known as neo-liberal thought.In short, the IMF asks governments to withdraw from all meaningful economic engagement and leave that to the private sector. Our government may not open up on these matters but all indications are that the IMF has a strong influence on the economic and financial policy positions taken by our economists at government enclave. It is therefore not surprising that even when the rest of the world is turning away from such a position as the pro-privatisation philosophy, our government maintains a rabid dedication to it. Workers will be shed in their thousands even as scholar after scholar outlines the folly of privatisation. IMF advised that our government sheds its civil service warning that the civil service bill was stretching our state coffers. That is happening. For some reason the IMF has always been criticised for being too focused on financial prudence against other concerns that a government has to focus on such as extreme poverty. However, this last week the IMF contingent did something.
