Things IMF will (does) not tell us

Those Bretton Woods Institutions!  We are told they are useful, and perhaps they are. But what accounts for this lingering suspicion I have, which they may not be unaware of – even before the loan and grant agreements are signed with African governments – that 20 per cent  of the money will end up in the pockets of the politicians? 

I am not too sure I am the only one who has noticed how  the International Monetary Fund (IMF) makes its entry: More like drama in a theatre of big actors playing before midgets and nitwits. Often there is a loud herald, followed by a prologue during which conditionalities – which have never been publicised - are debated by people with many alphabets after their names. 

In true theatre tradition, the next act (is it a scene) is the period of tensions during which leftist and academic elements, the TUC and other civil society organisations flex their muscle, forewarning government of likely street protests and boycotts.   

If you a