Several development advocates have criticized the International Monetary Fund’s plan to renovate its headquarters in Washington, D.C. Foreign Policy’s David Bosco has a different stance.
>> IMF Headquarters Renovation Draws Criticism
Bosco, an assistant professor at American University’s School of International Service and contributing editor at the award-winning magazine on international economics and politics, says many critics see IMF as an exploitative institution, and thus “everything the institution does, including what appears to be fairly routine physical upgrading, appears suspect.”
He asserts, “My own starting point is quite different: I see the IMF as an institution that provides a valuable public service and is staffed, for the most part, by serious professionals who are actually monitored fairly closely by key shareholders and by an executive board that includes some voice for all member countries.”
But Bosco says he will change his opinion “if the planned refurbishment does end up including gold-plated fixtures and a helicopter landing pad for [IMF Managing Director] Dominique Strauss-Kahn.”
