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Any list of countries “helped” by IMF programs reads like a casualty list. The start of the IMF’s painful involvement in Yugoslavia was candidly described in the 1989 issue of the World Bank’s publication, Trends in Developing Countries: “The dinar was devalued in real terms by 19.3 per cent [and] strict limits were imposed on the growth of nominal wages. . . . The program was supported by the IMF. . . . Output declined about 2 per cent, and inflation accelerated to 251 per cent by the end of the year. The unemployment rate has been rising, and the real income of the population declined by at least 2 per cent.”

The same sort of destabilization program was pawned off on several Latin American countries. To obtain a two-year IMF loan in 1982—83, for example, Chile deeply devalued the peso, raised tariffs from 10 per cent to 35 per cent, and raised income-tax rates. The economy collapsed, and inflation soared. Chile completely reversed those policies in 1984—85, and later ended an onerous payroll tax by privatizing Social Security. Since escaping the clutches of the IMF, Chile has become a model for development.

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Any list of countries “helped” by IMF programs reads like a casualty list. The start of the IMF’s painful involvement in Yugoslavia was candidly described in the 1989 issue of the World Bank’s publication, Trends in Developing Countries: “The dinar was devalued in real terms by 19.3 per cent [and] strict limits were imposed on the growth of nominal wages. . . . The program was supported by the IMF. . . . Output declined about 2 per cent, and inflation accelerated to 251 per cent by the end of the year. The unemployment rate has been rising, and the real income of the population declined by at least 2 per cent.”

The same sort of destabilization program was pawned off on several Latin American countries. To obtain a two-year IMF loan in 1982—83, for example, Chile deeply devalued the peso, raised tariffs from 10 per cent to 35 per cent, and raised income-tax rates. The economy collapsed, and inflation soared. Chile completely reversed those policies in 1984—85, and later ended an onerous payroll tax by privatizing Social Security. Since escaping the clutches of the IMF, Chile has become a model for development.