International Monetary Fund VOLUME 33 NUMBER 9 MAY 17, 2004

In this issue www.imf.org/imfsurvey 133 The IMF’s new selected as IMF’s Managing Director new Managing Director 134 Polak tribute n May 4, the IMF’s Executive Board selected European Investment Bank, and the European Bank 135 ORodrigo Rato, a national of Spain, to serve as for Reconstruction and Development. He also regu- IMF establishes Managing Director and chair of its Board. With this larly attended the ’s (EU’s) Trade Integration selection, made on a consensus basis, Rato, 55, will Economics and Finance Ministers’ meetings, and Mechanism serve as the ninth Managing Director to head the represented the EU at the Group of Seven Finance 137 institution in its 60-year history. Rato succeeds Horst Ministers’ meeting in Ottawa, Canada, in 2002, when Canada’s labor productivity Köhler, who resigned on March 4 to accept a nomi- Spain held the EU Presidency. As the minister nation as candidate for the German presidency. responsible for foreign trade relations, he represented 140 World Economic Spain at the World Trade Organization’s ministerial Outlook on U.S. When he officially begins his five-year term in early meetings in Doha, Qatar, in 2001, and in Cancún, fiscal policy June, Rato will be the first Spanish national to serve as Mexico, in 2003. 144 Managing Director. Widely credited as the architect of At his first press conference at IMF headquarters Africa’s economic Spain’s economic transformation in recent years, Rato, in Washington on May 11, Rato said the IMF was at prospects who holds a law degree, an MBA, and a doctorate in “a very important moment in its history”—a moment 146 economics earned in 2003, comes to the IMF after an in which its role as a global institution that provides Health, wealth, accomplished political career in which he served more guidance and, at the same time, surveillance of the and welfare than two decades in Spain’s parliament. From April world economy is becoming increasingly important. and… 2000 to March 2004, he was Spain’s Minister of He also noted that despite an upswing in the global 138 Economy and Vice President of the Government for economy, risks remain. Echoing the theme of the Recent publications Economic Affairs, and from May 1996 to 2000, he was IMF’s recently concluded spring meetings, Rato indi- 143 Minister of Economy and Finance. Rato is not the first cated that the IMF should continue to improve its IMF arrangements finance minister to serve as IMF Managing Director. member countries’ ability to take the chances 147 The IMF’s first head, Camille Gutt (1946-51), and its afforded by an improving world economy to enhance Selected IMF rates fifth, H. Johannes Witteveen their own growth. He also underscored that he, like 148 (1973-81), had been his predecessor Horst Köhler, saw the IMF as a New on the web finance ministers in their “human institution that is learning from the past— respective home coun- from success and from mistakes.” tries ( and the Rato told reporters that he saw the prevention of ). crises as the IMF’s main objective.“We have certain In his capacity tools for that. Surveillance is one. And our programs as Minister of are the other,” he said, adding that “overall, the work Economy, Rato of this institution has been very good for the world served as a economy and for countries in particular.” Indeed, he member of the explained, if you look at most of the countries that have Boards of had problems in recent years and that have had an Governors of IMF-supported adjustment program, you would find the IMF, the that “most of them are clearly in a much better position World Bank, today.” This was achieved, he emphasized, through a the Inter- collaborative effort—a product of citizens who had American made important efforts, governments that had set out Development sound economic policies, and institutions, such as the Bank, the IMF, that had helped these countries. 133

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