What is MacroWeb?

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an organization that promotes international monetary cooperation, fosters economic growth, and provides temporary financial assistance. The IMF comments on the war in Iraq by saying that the world economy is threatened by the war to the point that it will cut its 2003 global growth forecast from 3.7 percent to 3.2 percent (Crutsinger 2). A bigger concern for the IMF is that the world is too reliant on the growth of the United States, and they now expect slower growth in the U.S. (Economist Global Agenda 1). The IMF wants to reduce this dependency so other countries can focus on their own performance.

With the war in Iraq ending so quickly, different organizations have begun to focus more on decisions regarding the reconstruction of Iraq and the rebuilding of its economy. The problem with this reconstruction is that there is so much information that is not known about Iraq's economy. Iraq has not released a budget since 1978, so the state of their economy will have to be evaluated. Some countries, such as France and Germany, fear that the United States wants to pursue its own interests by using the World Bank and IMF to lead the reconstruction instead of the UN. Other countries feel that the World Bank and IMF should play a role but in coordination with the UN. Both organizations have made it clear that they do not want to be dragged into this political dispute, and they are willing to help when their stakeholder countries (the same as those in the UN) tell them to.

The IMF has not had a team in Iraq since 1983, but has agreed to send in a “fact-finding” team to determine the shape of Iraq's economy. The IMF has also pledged their support to the rebuilding of Iraq as soon as Iraq is made secure and the United Nations passes a new resolution. This new resolution would discuss sanctions against Iraq, debt relief for Iraq, and the unfreezing of assets in Iraq. The IMF has been working on plans for an Iraqi currency and to re-establish commerce in the country. They also began working on an international bankruptcy court for nations who cannot pay their debts before the United States rejected the idea.