Title

IMF Conditionality as Investment Regulation - A Theoretical Analysis

Abstract

This article examines the intersection between the International Monetary Fund (“IMF”) and foreign investment. Although the IMF was not originally designed to regulate foreign investment, IMF policies have famously required capital account liberalization as a condition for access to IMF credit. This article explores the implications of such conditionality and finds it problematic. Investment conditionality is outside the IMF’s mandate, difficult to reconcile with other existing investment regulation instruments, inimical to democracy and potentially destabilizing to the debtor country, and ineffective at ensuring long-term stable change. These conclusions necessitate a reappraisal of the governance and operations of the IMF.

Disciplines

International Law | International Trade Law

Date of this Version

July 2003