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Out of poverty biz, IMF
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April 16, 2000: 8:43 a.m. ET
Botswanan central banker suggests IMF stick to lending, not poverty issues
By Staff Writer M. Corey Goldman
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WASHINGTON (CNNfn) - The International Monetary Fund should not be directly involved in implementing programs that provide aid, reduce poverty and boost economic growth in Africa, according to Botswana's Central Bank Governor Linah Mohohlo.
 Speaking at a news briefing with several other African finance ministers and officials Saturday, Mohohlo said the IMF should stick to its objective of being a lender of last resort -- to provide aid to African nations that they can use to develop their own initiatives for poverty reduction.
Rather, the World Bank, the sister organization of the IMF that focuses more on implementing specific programs that alleviate poverty and boost living standards, should play a more active role than the IMF on the continent in helping produce long-term growth and economic stability, she said.
"The IMF should not be involved in poverty alleviation or structural reform - that should be left to the World Bank," she said. "The IMF is unnecessarily duplicating the role of other institutions if it gets into long-term lending. The Fund should concentrate on the issues they are best set up for."
A somewhat scathing rebuke
Her remarks were a somewhat scathing rebuke to the IMF, which last fall rejected Botswana as a qualifying country for debt relief under its Heavily Indebted Poorer Countries, or HPIC, initiative. It considered Botswana, which has made massive strides in balancing its budget, reducing its inflation rate and stabilizing its economy, was too well off to receive debt forgiveness. Nigeria and Unganda were also rejected for HPIC relief.
Her views were not shared by her colleagues, who were there to detail the results of a separate study the IMF asked them to do last fall - a study on implementing a Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility, or PRGF, a line of credit to help reduce poverty and aid growth among 80 of the fund's poorest members.
 "We don't share that view completely," said N'Golo Coulibaly, minister of finance for Cote d"Ivoire. "We believe the intentions of the IMF in poverty reduction has led to additional resources that African countries need. In our countries, we believe that the intervention of the IMF and the World Bank, who are working now more as a team, does indeed respond to those trying to implement macroeconomic policies."
Mohohlo also made clear that she felt six months was not enough time to properly respond to the IMF's PRGF request. And, she expressed displeasure that IMF officials only spent two weeks in the region before shuffling back to Washington to write up their conclusions about who should get funding, how and when.
"I just don't believe that the issues they had to address could be dealt with appropriately in six months," she said. "We need more time and more resources to properly respond to an initiative such as the PRGF paper." 
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