Abstract:

The lending practices of the IMF have been under scrutiny for many years with critics asking whether or not these conditionalities are in the best interest of the countries (Butkiewicz & Yanikkaya, 2005).  These lending practices are often criticized as "anti-growth" and "anti-poor" since governments are given a set of conditions that curb local demand resulting in adverse effects on the economy in the short run (Butkiewicz & Yanikkaya, 2005).   Countries participate in the IMF programs for various reasons. Domestic political factors, low international reserves and high debt service are some of the motivational factors (Steinwand & Stone, 2008). Biglaiser & DeRouen Jr. (2010) posited that investors are the ones who benefit from developing countries that are constrained by these IMF conditionalities.  The effect of the IMF stabilization program on a country's economy is quite controversial and mixed based on the findings in the literature (Ekanayake & Chatma, 2010).  The IMF conditionalities are seen as meddling and ineffective (Abbott, Andersen, & Tarp, 2010) resulting in opposition strikes and sometimes riots by many countries (Edwards, 2005; Conway 1994).  These actions would seemingly be based on historical outcomes of the IMF stabilization program. Some of the outcomes of these structural reform programs have made some countries either temporarily or permanently worse off (Mayer & Mourmouras, 2008). According to the International Monetary Fund (2009) countries seek assistance from the fund for various reasons.  The reasons cited include external imbalances, low reserves, credit growth, GDP growth, inflation, government balance, and public debt. Countries that have adopted the fund's program are still struggling with these variables, leaving critics to wonder about the positive effect or lack thereof of the program (Abbott, Andersen, & Tarp, 2010).  Since the resulting effects of the activities of the IMF lending program can be used to evaluate its success, this paper will look at the effect on certain economic variables.  The purpose of the study is to determine whether the funding conditionality of structural changes imposed on Caribbean countries by the IMF is to their economic benefit, based on key economic indicators before and after implementation of the IMF conditionalities.

Presentation:

Balfour, C. (2011). Examining the Economic Impact of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Loan Stabilization Program on Caribbean Countries, IABPAD Conference.

Faculty Spotlight:

Charmaine Walters Balfour is an experienced instructor with extensive industry experience.  She currently lectures in Financial Accounting and Managerial Finance at the graduate level and Economics at the undergraduate level.  She has lectured in Accounting, Economics and Business Studies in the past.  Charmaine has completed all course work towards a doctoral degree in Finance and is currently completing her dissertation towards another doctoral degree in International Business.  She has written a scholarly paper on gender issues and has presented a paper entitled "Examining the Economic Impact of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Loan Stabilization Program on Caribbean Countries" at the IABPAD conference in October, 2011 on international economic issues.

Charmaine enjoys doing research, visiting new places and learning new cultures. She is married to Steve and they have a 17 year old son Kevaughn.