IMF Changing Tack on Greece

The International Monetary Fund may have devoted too much money into efforts to rescue Greece from its debt crisis. Many of the IMF’s 188 members question the sum of loans for Greece - $25 billion from the IMF. “It seems paradoxical: The term debt relief is a taboo in Latin America, Asia and Africa, but that is exactly what Greece asked the IMF for,” writes Astrid Prange for Deutsche Welle. The IMF wants to protect service on funds it has lent. From the lender's perspective, total debt matters less than steady payments. Prange notes that emerging economies became less reliant on the IMF after 2002: “Sustained growth rates allowed them to form foreign exchange reserves and enabled them to pay off their debts. The IMF lost its customers and was forced to look around for new business opportunities.” She adds those opportunities emerged with the debt crisis in 2008. – YaleGlobal