{
  "title": "This Time It’s Different",
  "publication": "IMF Blog, March 12, 2010",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2010/03/12/this-time-its-different",
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  "summary": "Author: Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund",
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    {
      "heading": "Context and visit",
      "content": "- Author: Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund\n- Date: March 12, 2010\n- Final destination of visit: Zambia (town hall with civil society, students, and the media)\n- Key snapshot: Zambia growth was 6.3 percent in 2009 and the outlook for 2010 appears positive."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Major themes from Africa visit",
      "content": "- Theme 1 — Improved macroeconomic resilience\n  - Many African countries pursued sound economic policies over the past decade or so.\n  - Those policies helped buffer Africa from the worst of the global crisis, even though the crisis still affected the continent.\n  - Recommendation implied: strengthen the sound policies that reduced vulnerability.\n\n- Theme 2 — Governance and civil society\n  - Governance emerged prominently in public discussions across Kenya, South Africa, and Zambia.\n  - Civil society in Africa \"has found its voice\" and calls for:\n    - accountability\n    - transparency\n    - action against corruption\n  - Distinction noted: talking about governance versus taking action on governance.\n  - Policy implication: governments should heed civil society to improve moral/political standing and governance effectiveness.\n\n- Theme 3 — Africa’s global linkages and external relations\n  - Africa’s relationship with the world is increasingly important in the 21st century.\n  - Africa was described as an “innocent victim” of the crisis: weak initial financial linkages limited early exposure, but deeper effects arrived via investment, trade, and aid reductions.\n  - Lesson: no country is immune from global shocks.\n  - Specific point on China:\n    - The role of China in Africa arose in discussions in all three visited countries.\n    - Zambia’s relationship with China dates to the 1970s and the building of the TAZARA railroad.\n    - More recent intensification: Chinese investment in Zambia and in Africa primarily in the mining and construction sectors.\n    - Assessment: Chinese investment is to be welcomed, but all foreign investment should \"make economic sense from the African perspective—and be fair.\""
    },
    {
      "heading": "IMF role, actions, and recommendations",
      "content": "- Perceptions and recent IMF actions noted:\n  - The stereotype of the IMF as “the bad guy” persists in some quarters.\n  - Recent IMF changes highlighted:\n    - the tripling of our lending to sub-Saharan Africa, at zero interest rates, to help them weather the crisis\n    - the streamlining of conditionality\n    - the emphasis on countercyclical policy and the preservation of public spending, particularly for the social sectors\n- Two forward-looking needs for the IMF:\n  - the IMF needs to strengthen even further its policy advice in Africa\n  - it must communicate and engage even more to counter the outdated image of the Fund, and to build a better understanding of who we really are today—and that the IMF is Africa’s institution\n- Overall judgment: the IMF has \"a way to go\" in strengthening its partnership with Africa but the journey is well under way."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Key statistic",
      "content": "- Zambia GDP growth: 6.3 percent in 2009\n\nSource: This Time It’s Different — Dominique Strauss-Kahn, March 12, 2010.\n\n---\n\n\n References\n\n- sound economic policies\n- policy agenda\n- role of China in Africa\n- major changes that the IMF has undertaken\n- Something New Out of Africa: A Global Player\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2010/03/12/this-time-its-different"
    }
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    "[Markdown version](/en/blogs/articles/2010/03/12/this-time-its-different/index.md)",
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    "Authors: Dominique Strauss-Kahn",
    "Published: March 12, 2010",
    "Author: Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund",
    "Date: March 12, 2010",
    "Final destination of visit: Zambia (town hall with civil society, students, and the media)",
    "Key snapshot: Zambia growth was 6.3 percent in 2009 and the outlook for 2010 appears positive.",
    "Theme 1 — Improved macroeconomic resilience",
    "Theme 2 — Governance and civil society",
    "Theme 3 — Africa’s global linkages and external relations",
    "Perceptions and recent IMF actions noted:",
    "Two forward-looking needs for the IMF:",
    "Overall judgment: the IMF has \"a way to go\" in strengthening its partnership with Africa but the journey is well under way.",
    "Zambia GDP growth: 6.3 percent in 2009",
    "[sound economic policies](http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/2010/NEW021810A.htm)",
    "[policy agenda](http://blogs.imf.org/2010/03/09/africa-is-back/)",
    "[role of China in Africa](http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2008/03/wang.htm)",
    "[major changes that the IMF has undertaken](http://blogs.imf.org/2010/03/07/imf%e2%80%94delivering-on-promises-to-africa/)",
    "[Something New Out of Africa: A Global Player](http://blogs.imf.org/2010/03/10/1223/)"
  ],
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