Thursday June 25, 07:56 PM
Latin America should replace IMF: Correa
 |
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa on Thursday called for the establishment of a regional monetary system for Latin America that would replace the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Speaking at a UN high-level conference on the impact of the global financial crisis on developing countries here, he said the crisis "originated in US financial markets," with the "connivance of the IMF."
Correa said Latin American countries needed to negotiate a "regional monetary agreement now, in order to coordinate our monetary policies and prevent the crisis in our region from broadening."
Latin Americans should "have our own international financial architecture," so that we can "become the owners of our own destinies" and be spared the stringent conditions imposed by the IMF in exchange for loans, he added.
Correa proposed a regional structure that could set the stage for a central regional bank which would "give us more autonomy with respect to the financial circuits of the North."
The structure also could be used as a model by other developing countries, he added.
"Patching up the Bretton Woods system (the 1944 international financial system underpinning the IMF and the World Bank), which we do not control, makes no sense for the countries of the South," the Ecuadoran leader said.
At the global level, Correa proposed setting up a "monetary council... with clear representation and accountability criteria that endorses new foreign exchange commitments and regional institutional arrangements with an issuance of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs).
This, he added, would contribute to break up the monopoly of the US dollar and the stranglehold of the IMF on developing countries.
The SDR is an international reserve asset allocated to IMF member countries with its exchange rate determined by a basket of currencies, at the moment including the dollar, euro, yen and sterling. A review of the basket is due in late 2010.
|
|
|
Send Article by Email
Send Article by IM
Blog This with Y! 360
Printable View
