IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn told Africans on Monday the Fund's policy advice had not always been right, and promised more streamlined lending practices as economic crisis forces more countries to seek help. Addressing students at the University of Dar Es Salaam, the International Monetary Fund's managing director said sub-Saharan Africa would be more affected by the slowdown in world growth than by the systemic banking crisis hurting advanced economies. He said African exports would suffer from falling global demand, lower prices for oil and commodities, and a fall in the supply of international financing. The prospect that some African countries may have to go to the IMF for increased or new aid has unnerved many in the region who, rightly or wrongly, say the fiscal and structural medicine that it prescribed did their economies more harm than good. Strauss-Kahn said the IMF was moving fast to increase financial support to affected countries, step up technical assistance, and streamline its lending conditions. “It is true to say that, until recently, the idea of the IMF was: ‘When countries ask for resources we should also fix all of the problems in the country',” he said. “What I am trying to change now is to focus on the problem the country is facing that day, and not all of the problems in the history of the country.” If a country faces fiscal imbalances, IMF conditions should not also emphasise the need for land reform, he said.
