January 26, 2009
Mr. Timothy F. Geithner
U.S. Treasury Secretary-designate
Dear Mr. Secretary-designate:
The undersigned are encouraged by your responses to questions from the Senate Finance Committee about the Obama administration’s position on IMF reform.
We believe that the package of IMF reforms that was agreed a year ago and submitted to the Congress last November is inadequate particularly in light of the ongoing global economic and financial crisis. We urge you and the administration to defer its Congressional consideration for now. Instead, we urge you to reopen the package starting in your discussions with other governments in advance of the meeting of G-20 heads of government in London on April 2.
The IMF’s legitimacy and relevance must be substantially enhanced and supported through bold steps to realign significantly voting power in the IMF, to augment the Fund’s resources commensurate with the needs of today’s globalized economy, to implement the Fund’s mandate for exchange-rate surveillance, and to reform, once and for all, the management selection process in the IMF.
We look forward to working with you on these crucial issues.
Raymond Baker, Global Financial Integrity
Nancy Birdsall, Center for Global Development
Colin Bradford, Brookings Institution
Daniel D. Bradlow, American University Washington College of Law
Jacqueline Best, University of Ottawa
Ralph Bryant, Brookings Institution
John Christensen, Tax Justice Network International
Seamus Finn, Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate
Jo Marie Griesgraber, New Rules for Global Finance Coalition
Morris Goldstein, Peterson Institute for International Economics
Gerry Helleiner, Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto
Homi Kharas, Brookings Institution
Dr Dennis Leech, University of Warwick
Johannes Linn, Brookings Institution
Domenico Lombardi, Oxford Institute for Economic Policy
Eswar Prasad, Cornell University and Brookings Institution
Vijaya Ramachandran, Center for Global Development
Liliana Rojas-Suarez, Center for Global Development
Bernice Romero, Oxfam International
Rosemary Ryan, Medical Mission Sisters, Sector North America
John Sewell, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Filomeno Sta. Ana III, Action for Economic Reforms
Arvind Subramanian, Center for Global Development, and Peterson Institute for International Economics, Johns Hopkins University
Edwin Truman, Peterson Institute for International Economics
John Williamson, Peterson Institute for International Economics
*Affiliations are listed for identification purposes only
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