{
  "title": "Stanley Fischer -- Farewell Dinner Speech",
  "publication": "IMF News, August 29, 2001",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2015/09/28/04/53/sp082901a",
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  "summary": "Delivered on August 29, 2001.",
  "publishDate": "2001-08-29",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Opening acknowledgments and tenure",
      "content": "- Delivered on August 29, 2001.\n- Served at the Fund for seven years.\n- Expresses gratitude to individuals: Michel Camdessus; Larry; Jacob (friend of 32 years); Anne Krueger; Tim Geithner; Gerd Haeusler; Ken Rogoff; Horst Köhler; Risha; Paul Samuelson (met forty years earlier in hard cover and then in person 35 years earlier); Rhoda; children Michael (minus Jill), David and Joannie, and Jonathan.\n- Notes his arrival a few months before the Mexican devaluation in December 1994 and the resulting perceived structural break in the frequency of crises."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The Fund — mission, culture, and operational approach",
      "content": "- Core institutional mission and policy stance:\n  - Reaffirms the continuing validity of the Fund’s original mission as set out in Article I of the Articles of Agreement.\n  - Emphasizes support for macroeconomic stability, integration into the global economy (especially trade), and market-oriented domestic policies.\n- Operational philosophy and conditionality:\n  - Describes the IMF as a cooperative institution whose members have a right to request assistance.\n  - Quotes the Reagan maxim reframed for the Fund: \"Trust, but use conditionality\".\n  - Acknowledges circumstances where the Fund must \"walk away\" due to inability to deliver policies or severe corruption and governance problems.\n- Organizational strengths:\n  - Flexibility, swiftness, and responsiveness; staff is \"relatively small\" and mission \"relatively focused\".\n  - Advocates staying \"small, mean—well tough, and lean.\"\n  - Praises the Executive Board as \"the secret weapon of the international system,\" highlighting consensus decision-making and the Board's capacity to move quickly when required.\n  - Commends management and deputy colleagues: P.R. Narvekar, Alassane Ouattara, Shige Sugisaki, Eduardo Aninat.\n  - Highlights the staff’s professionalism and dedication—examples of rapid, technically complex work include negotiating a program with Korea in a week and designing a monetary system for Bosnia-Herzegovina in a weekend.\n  - Singles out Jack Boorman and the late Tom Leddy for special mention.\n- Stakeholder relationships and diplomacy:\n  - Stresses the necessity of support from major shareholders and cooperation with other international financial institutions (notably improved relations with the World Bank; thanks Sven Sandstrom and Enrique Iglesias).\n  - Describes the Fund as necessarily \"used\" by major and minor shareholders and warns that loss of usefulness would threaten the institution's existence.\n  - Recalls historical accusations of US influence, citing Keynes’s concerns about location and subsequent perceptions of being in the pockets of both the Administration and Wall Street.\n- Personnel and appointments:\n  - Welcomes Anne Krueger taking over as First Deputy Managing Director.\n  - Notes incoming and departing personnel: Tim Geithner, Gerd Haeusler, Ken Rogoff, and departing \"old-timers.\"\n  - Praises Alassane Ouattara as a person of outstanding ability, decency, and integrity, and regrets he is \"still being denied the opportunity to serve his own country.\""
    },
    {
      "heading": "Crises, events, and personal memories",
      "content": "- Mexican crisis and early Fund tests:\n  - Arrival a few months before the Mexican devaluation in December 1994.\n  - Describes a dramatic Board meeting in early February 1995 ending with a near-unanimous vote after the Managing Director had challenged the Board to fire him.\n  - April 1995: \"tequila crisis\" affected Argentina; loan arranged with Finance Minister Domingo Cavallo; President Menem won reelection.\n- Middle East/North Africa and personal diplomacy:\n  - Participation in the first Middle East/North Africa Economic Summit in Casablanca in October 1994; belief at the time that the Israeli-Palestinian peace process was irreversible.\n  - April 1996: dinner hosted by the Emir of Bahrain among several hundred men in traditional dress.\n  - Regular visits to Egypt and Jordan, with close working relationships facilitated by Shakour Shaalan.\n- Asian crisis (1997–1998):\n  - Remembers secret visit to Bangkok in May 1997; meeting ASEAN finance ministers and central bank governors in Hong Kong in October 1997.\n  - Meetings with President Suharto and other regional leaders; recalls the Board meeting for Korea with Treasurer David Williams standing at the door to give the signal to send the money.\n  - Christmas Eve, 1997: conference calls coordinating rollover of Korean interbank credit lines with European deputies on the line at 3 a.m.\n  - Cites continuous work by IMF staff and country counterparts under \"twelve-hour time difference\"; names IMF contributors: Hubert Neiss, Wanda Tseng, Anoop Singh, Bijan Aghevli, and Teresa Ter-Minassian.\n  - Acknowledges that the Fund’s initial judgment on fiscal policy was faulty and recalls virulent external criticism and defenders including Bob Rubin, Jean-Claude Trichet, Bill McDonough, Fred Bergsten, Jacob Frenkel, and Rudi Dornbusch.\n- Russia and other crises:\n  - Visit to Moscow at the end of July 1998 to convey unsustainable outlook; subsequent worsening of the crisis impacted vacations in the south of France and on Mykonos.\n  - Later visit to Moscow in June (year not specified in excerpt) meeting President Putin and observing market-oriented reform progress; credits Anders Aslund for optimism about Russia.\n  - Early February 1999: departure from Davos to Brazil at 4 a.m. amid concern; credits President Cardoso, Pedro Malan, Arminio Fraga, and Fund team led by Teresa Ter-Minassian for averting disaster.\n  - August 1999: inauguration of Tito Mboweni as Governor of the South African Reserve Bank; notes the transfer of power from Chris Stals.\n- Japan and other country engagements:\n  - Regular visits to Tokyo and reflection on lessons from Japan’s difficulties in restoring growth.\n  - Meetings with Anwar Ibrahim in Kuala Lumpur in May 1998; meetings in Singapore with Senior Minister Lee Kwan Yew, his son Deputy Prime Minister Lee, and Prime Minister Goh.\n- Personal, family, and roots trips:\n  - Roots trip in 1995 to father's home town of Liepaya (Libau) in Latvia; observations on the destruction of the Jewish community and effects of fifty years of communism.\n  - Roots trip in 2000 to home village Mazabuka in Zambia with Goodall Gondwe; notes Mazabuka had progressed considerably since his childhood and reflects optimism about Africa.\n- Individuals encountered and praised across crises:\n  - Mexico: Guillermo Ortiz.\n  - Brazil: Pedro Malan; Arminio Fraga.\n  - Thailand: former Finance Minister Tarrin.\n  - Indonesia: Widjojo; Anoop Singh.\n  - Russia: Yegor Gaidar; Anatoly Chubais; Anders Aslund.\n  - South Africa: Trevor Manuel; Tito Mboweni; Chris Stals.\n  - Hungary: Gyorgy Suranyi.\n  - Jamaica: Omar Davies.\n  - Other IMF and external colleagues mentioned: Bob Rubin; Larry Summers; Stu Eizenstat; John Taylor; David Lipton; Tim Geithner; Caroline Atkinson; Sven Sandstrom; Enrique Iglesias; Jean-Claude Trichet; Bill McDonough; Fred Bergsten; Jacob Frenkel; Rudi Dornbusch; Hubert Neiss; Wanda Tseng; Bijan Aghevli; Teresa Ter-Minassian; Jack Boorman; Tom Leddy; Goodall Gondwe."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Reflections and concluding remarks",
      "content": "- Emphasizes that the Fund “deals with policies, not people” and must work with incumbent governments while supporting good policies and refusing bad ones.\n- Reiterates the Fund’s special nature deriving from mission validity, flexibility, the Executive Board, management, and especially the quality of the staff.\n- Personal conviction that working at the Fund mattered \"for the international system, but more fundamentally for the people who live in our member countries.\"\n- Final gratitude to family—especially Rhoda—and to all who supported him during \"these seven extraordinary years.\"\n\nStanley Fischer -- Farewell Dinner Speech, August 29, 2001.\n\n---\n\n\n References\n\n- Republic of Korea and the IMF\n- Mexico and the IMF\n- Russian Federation and the IMF\n- Argentina and the IMF\n- Brazil and the IMF\n- Indonesia and the IMF\n- Singapore and the IMF\n- Speeches\n- https://www.imf.org/external/np/omd/bios/sf.htm\n- PRESS CENTER\n- Larry\n- https://www.imf.org/en/home\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2015/09/28/04/53/sp082901a"
    }
  ],
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    "[Structured JSON version](/en/news/articles/2015/09/28/04/53/sp082901a/index.json)",
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    "Published: August 29, 2001",
    "Delivered on August 29, 2001.",
    "Served at the Fund for seven years.",
    "Expresses gratitude to individuals: Michel Camdessus; Larry; Jacob (friend of 32 years); Anne Krueger; Tim Geithner; Gerd Haeusler; Ken Rogoff; Horst Köhler; Risha; Paul Samuelson (met forty years earlier in hard cover and then in person 35 years earlier); Rhoda; children Michael (minus Jill), David and Joannie, and Jonathan.",
    "Notes his arrival a few months before the Mexican devaluation in December 1994 and the resulting perceived structural break in the frequency of crises.",
    "Core institutional mission and policy stance:",
    "Operational philosophy and conditionality:",
    "Organizational strengths:",
    "Stakeholder relationships and diplomacy:",
    "Personnel and appointments:",
    "Mexican crisis and early Fund tests:",
    "Middle East/North Africa and personal diplomacy:",
    "Asian crisis (1997–1998):",
    "Russia and other crises:",
    "Japan and other country engagements:",
    "Personal, family, and roots trips:",
    "Individuals encountered and praised across crises:",
    "Emphasizes that the Fund “deals with policies, not people” and must work with incumbent governments while supporting good policies and refusing bad ones.",
    "Reiterates the Fund’s special nature deriving from mission validity, flexibility, the Executive Board, management, and especially the quality of the staff.",
    "Personal conviction that working at the Fund mattered \"for the international system, but more fundamentally for the people who live in our member countries.\"",
    "Final gratitude to family—especially Rhoda—and to all who supported him during \"these seven extraordinary years.\"",
    "[Republic of Korea and the IMF](http://www.imf.org/external/country/KOR/index.htm)",
    "[Mexico and the IMF](http://www.imf.org/external/country/MEX/index.htm)",
    "[Russian Federation and the IMF](http://www.imf.org/external/country/RUS/index.htm)",
    "[Argentina and the IMF](http://www.imf.org/external/country/ARG/index.htm)",
    "[Brazil and the IMF](http://www.imf.org/external/country/BRA/index.htm)",
    "[Indonesia and the IMF](http://www.imf.org/external/country/IDN/index.htm)",
    "[Singapore and the IMF](http://www.imf.org/external/country/SGP/index.htm)",
    "[Speeches](https://www.imf.org/en/news/searchnews)",
    "[https://www.imf.org/external/np/omd/bios/sf.htm](https://www.imf.org/external/np/omd/bios/sf.htm)",
    "[PRESS CENTER](http://presscenter.imf.org/)",
    "[Larry](https://www.imf.org/external/np/omd/2001/sffd/ls.htm)",
    "[https://www.imf.org/en/home](https://www.imf.org/en/home)"
  ],
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