Conclusions

[NOTE: This section forms part of the final chapter of the paper]

So what are the lessons of the crisis, and how have the IMF fared?

In my opinion, the IMF got it just about right. The recovery of the region from 2000 onwards has been nothing short of remarkable, ultimately proving that the IMF plans were appropriate and correct within the medium to long term.

Critics will still point to the many errors that the IMF have made from 1997-2006 and claim that the fund has no relevance, that is it out of date, out of touch and should still be abolished. However, without the IMF could the countries involved have turned around their economies in less than a decade? In my opinion, absolutely not.

To this, critics will almost certainly point out the Malaysian response (and that according to my own ratings it has recovered more so than any other East Asian nation), however, the problems were so very different in Malaysia that a comparison based solely upon my ratings is not a fair indication of country-by-country growth. In any case, each of the other three countries (with the possible exception of Indonesia) have recovered excellently since 2000, as the IMF’s plans have finally come to fruition.

The IMF was, and still is, an easy target to criticise. Much like the WTO were blamed for the breakdown of the Doha convention in 2002, the IMF has been blamed for seemingly everything that went wrong from 1994-2002. The true fact of the matter is that if the IMF did not exist, the Asian region would be in a much worse situation that it finds itself today.

As the de facto manager of the global economy, the IMF is under immense pressure to achieve results first time, all the time. This is not always possible, and when it is not, a flurry of academics and economists rush to take sides against the fund. Criticism is seemingly ubiquitous for the IMF, yet despite hundreds of papers attacking the fund’s stance in 1997 (and very few advocating a similar aid package), the results speak for themselves.

East Asia is now back on track, with unemployment down, GDP rising and large-scale trade surpluses, the future is very bright. The IMF has played a key role in the restructuring and development of the region and in my opinion, deserves many of the plaudits for the whirlwind turnaround that has occurred. Far from being rendered obsolete, the Fund has now cemented its role as the global economy body and should now build upon its achievements within Asia and continue to prescribe sound economic and social policies irrespective of the misplaced criticism prevalent during the 1997-1999 years.