Representatives Demand End to IMF-World Bank Sabotage of Mozambique
McKinney: It's ludicrous that the World Bank and the IMF are imposing
poverty, joblessness, and dependency on the Mozambican people.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Washington DC - As the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank
convene for their Spring Meetings in Washington, DC, Congresswoman Cynthia
McKinney released a letter to Secretary Treasury O'Neill calling on the
Treasury Department to use its influence with the International Monetary
Fund and the World Bank to stop these institutions from undermining
Mozambique's cashew nut processing industry.
The letter, signed by twenty-one Members of Congress, asserts that "the
IMF's continued obstruction of Mozambique's democratically determined
economic development policies" is an "abuse of the authority and resources
granted to the IMF by the United States." The letter asks O'Neill "to
instruct the United States Executive Directors at the IMF and the World Bank
to communicate that it is the policy of the United States that the IMF and
the World Bank should cease obstructing Mozambique's efforts to rehabilitate
its cashew industry."
The controversial policy of the two institutions in Mozambique was the
subject of an article in September in the Washington Post. The IMF and the
World Bank have insisted that the cashew nut industry, once one of the
largest private sector employers, be dismantled as a condition of debt
relief and new loans.
"It's ludicrous that the World Bank and the IMF are imposing poverty and
joblessness and dependency on the Mozambican people. It's long past time for
Congress to assert its authority over U.S. policy at these institutions,"
McKinney said today. "It's outrageous that these institutions, largely funded
by the U.S. taxpayer, impose misguided economic policies on developing
countries that have never been approved or even debated by the U.S. Congress."
April 26, 2001
Mr. Paul H. O'Neill
Secretary
Department of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20220
Dear Secretary O'Neill:
As you are no doubt aware, in the last several years Members of Congress on
both sides of the aisle have become increasingly dissatisfied with the
policies promoted and imposed by the International Monetary Fund and the
World Bank in developing countries, using U.S. tax dollars.
One particular case stands out: for the last several years, the IMF and the
World Bank have undermined Mozambique's efforts to rehabilitate its cashew
nut processing industry. As a result, thousands of workers have lost their
jobs in an industry that was once one of the largest private sector
employers. Production has shifted to India, which uses child labor to shell
the nuts. Ironically, the United States is a major market for processed
cashew, so that as a result of the IMF/World Bank intervention, U.S.
consumers are subsidizing child labor. For years the World Bank persisted in
pressuring Mozambique to remove support for its cashew industry, despite
opposition to the World Bank policy by Mozambique's democratically elected
parliament and despite the fact that a study commissioned by the World Bank
indicated that the World Bank's policy was unsound.
Last year, the new head of the IMF, Horst Kohler, promised that IMF policies
would change, that the IMF would stop imposing policies on developing
countries that have nothing to do with the IMF's core mission.
Unfortunately, like so much rhetoric in the past concerning "reform" at the
international financial institutions, it is far from clear that the change
in rhetoric has been matched by a change in reality. Recent reports indicate
that the IMF is still pressuring Mozambique to remove support for its cashew
industry.
We regard the IMF's continued obstruction of Mozambique's democratically
determined economic development policies to be an abuse of the authority and
resources granted to the IMF by the United States. We ask you to instruct
the United States Executive Directors at the IMF and the World Bank to
communicate that it is the policy of the United States that the IMF and the
World Bank should cease obstructing Mozambique's efforts to rehabilitate its
cashew industry.
Sincerely,
Cynthia McKinney Bernie Sanders
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Peter DeFazio Rob Andrews
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Lane Evans Eleanor Holmes-Norton
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Julia Carson Dennis Kucinich
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Barbara Lee Danny Davis
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Bob Filner Albert Wynn
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Maxine Waters William Lacy Clay
Member of Congress Member of Congress
David Bonior Donald Payne
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Earl Hilliard Jan Schakowsky
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Bennie Thompson Tammy Baldwin
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Neil Abercrombie
Member of Congress
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