The IMF and Civil Society
Dominique Strauss-Kahn tours a local neighborhood market with NGO Rakesh Rajani.
IMF - Students and Civil Society Representatives Hold Dialogue in Tanzania
March 23, 2009
During a visit to Dar es Salaam, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn met with Tanzanian university students and civil society representatives to talk about the role of the IMF in Africa and to explain how the global financial crisis is affecting the African continent.
IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn visited Tanzania March 9-11 to attend a high-level conference organized by the IMF and the Tanzanian government. He used the opportunity to meet with a diverse group of Tanzanians in Dar es Salaam a day before the March 10-11 conference. This included visits to a disability hospital, where the Mananging Director (MD) made a donation on behalf of the Fund, a bustling marketplace, and the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM). The MD interacted with students, traders, and a broad cross-section of Tanzanians to listen to their stories and perspectives.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn speaks at the University of Dar Es Salaam.
At UDSM, the MD held a townhall meeting with 100 students and faculty from the Business School. Strauss Khan said that despite weaker financial linkages with rest of the world, African countries were likely to be hit hard by the global financial crisis, putting at risk the considerable progress made across the region in recent years. He said the world was now facing the worst financial crisis since the 1930s, and this could have been averted had advanced countries followed Fund policy advice and analysis.
UDSM students pressed the MD on whether the IMF had done enough to prevent the financial crisis. Strauss-Kahn’s response: “It is unfair to say the IMF did nothing to prevent the financial crisis. Sometimes countries, especially the advanced economies, do not listen to what we tell them. Maybe we have not been vocal enough.” Responding to questions on the financial crisis, Strauss-Kahn added that it was important to avoid a repeat of the same in future by putting in place a better early warning system. He noted that the financial crisis had already affected commodity exports from Africa and told the students that IMF for its part would enhance its support to Africa and other low-income countries.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn accepts a gift from 8 year old Catherine Evans during his visit the CCRBRT Disability Hospital.
Strauss-Khan also visited the Manzese open-air market in Dar es Salaam, where he interacted with small traders and residents. Prominent local CSO activitist Rakesh Rajani served as the Managing Director’s guide at the market and facilitated his interaction with Tanzanians. Mr. Strauss-Kahn also visited the Disability Hospital in Dar es Salaam and presented a check for 6.6 million (US$5,000) shillings from the IMF’s Civic Program.
In a separate meeting held on March 9 in Dar es Salaam, Antoinette Sayeh, the Director of IMF’s African Department and Caroline Atkinson, Director of the External Relations Department met with local and regional civil society representatives to discuss the impact of the financial crisis on Africa and the key objectives of the March 10-11 conference. Sayeh said that with the expectation of a more pronounced global downturn, weaker commodity prices, and pressure on capital flows, the IMF expects growth in Sub-Saharan Africa to slow from about 5.25 percent in 2008 to about 3.25 percent in 2009. The priority for Africa and for international community, she added, needs to be preservation of the significant achievements in Africa over the past decade. CSO representatives said that an upward trend in economic growth had been achieved in Africa, in particular in Tanzania. However, CSOs argued that the growth had been insignificant for the lives of many Tanzanians. Sayeh noted that in the last two decades, Tanzanian’s economy went through a period of successful transition in which economic liberalization and institutional reform led to a recovery of GDP growth to more than 7 percent per year during the last nine years.
Sayeh and Atkinson encouraged African CSOs to provide practical recommendations that could help the region protect itself from the financial crisis and build on its recent economic success, and make sure that growth is translated into better lives for their citizens.