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.What the IMF can and can't do with a countries exchange rates.
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The IMF can exercise “firm surveillance” but it cannot compel a country to change its exchange rate. Nor can it order commercial foreign exchange dealers to change the prices at which they trade currencies. It can offer economic advice and discuss how changes in countries’ exchange rates might be in their own interest. It can also provide a forum, such as its new multilateral consultation mechanism or discussion on the IMF executive board, where other countries can urge a country to change its exchange rate procedures. However, in the end, the authority to make the change resides with the country alone.
WTO (World Trade Organization) and IMF working in concert.....One of the corresponding purposes of the IMF is to “facilitate the expansion and balanced growth of international trade” in order to facilitate high levels of employment, economic growth, and development in all its member countries.”8 The WTO seeks to expand international trade through the reduction or elimination of tariffs or other barriers to trade. The IMF pursues this goal mainly through efforts to promote international monetary and exchange rate stability. It also has standards, which it has been reluctant to employ, for determining whether currencies are being manipulated and whether they are valued properly relative to other currencies. Trade policy issues may feature prominently in the IMF’s surveillance activities, relative to its member countries, and steps to reduce barriers to trade are often included in its policy advice and its loan conditionality. IMF surveillance reports often provide important contributions for the WTO’s own Trade Policy Reviews, which assess its member countries’ trade policies.
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The IMF can exercise “firm surveillance” but it cannot compel a country to change its exchange rate. Nor can it order commercial foreign exchange dealers to change the prices at which they trade currencies. It can offer economic advice and discuss how changes in countries’ exchange rates might be in their own interest. It can also provide a forum, such as its new multilateral consultation mechanism or discussion on the IMF executive board, where other countries can urge a country to change its exchange rate procedures. However, in the end, the authority to make the change resides with the country alone.
WTO (World Trade Organization) and IMF working in concert.....One of the corresponding purposes of the IMF is to “facilitate the expansion and balanced growth of international trade” in order to facilitate high levels of employment, economic growth, and development in all its member countries.”8 The WTO seeks to expand international trade through the reduction or elimination of tariffs or other barriers to trade. The IMF pursues this goal mainly through efforts to promote international monetary and exchange rate stability. It also has standards, which it has been reluctant to employ, for determining whether currencies are being manipulated and whether they are valued properly relative to other currencies. Trade policy issues may feature prominently in the IMF’s surveillance activities, relative to its member countries, and steps to reduce barriers to trade are often included in its policy advice and its loan conditionality. IMF surveillance reports often provide important contributions for the WTO’s own Trade Policy Reviews, which assess its member countries’ trade policies.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
