> (c) Inter Press Service > BOSNIA-FINANCE: Frenchman to Run Bosnian Central Bank > > by Abid Aslam > > WASHINGTON, Oct 30 (IPS) - A Frenchman appointed by the International Monetary > Fund (IMF) is to head the Central Bank of Bosnia and Hercegovina. > > The IMF Wednesday announced the appointment of Serge Robert, a former > commercial banker and staffer at the Banque de France who has served > the past eight months as senior adviser to the governor of the Bank of > Haiti. > > The appointment, sanctioned by the Bosnian constitution, is the latest in > a series of moves by which the international community is -- in > effect, if not by intention -- strangling the war-torn Balkan country, > critics charge. > > The new Bosnian constitution, enacted as part of the Dayton/Paris peace > accords, gives the IMF power to hire and fire the central bank's head, > who cannot be a citizen of Bosnia or any of its neighbours. The IMF is > to wield this power for six years. > > ''This points to the way in which the international financial institutions > are interfering in the internal affairs of so-called sovereign states,'' said > Michel Chossudovsky, professor of economics at the University of Ottawa, > Canada, and author of 'The Globalisation of Poverty: The impact of the IMF > and World Bank', published recently in London and Penang, Malaysia. > > ''Under IMF stewardship, (the new central bank) will function simply as > a currency board. It can't even mobilise domestic resources for > reconstruction,'' > Chossudovsky said. > > As a consequence, Bosnia must rely on foreign aid, very little of which > has been reaching the country since the beginning of the year, he added. > Donors have pledged support, but much of this is tied to servicing that > portion of the former Yugoslavia's external debt that creditors assigned > to Bosnia. > > Much of what has been marketed as relief financing has amounted to ''the > engineering of debt and debt servicing,'' Chossudovsky said. > > To establish a relationship with the IMF, which it joined in late 1995, > Chossudovsky explained, the Sarajevo government first had to clear the > arrears it inherited from Belgrade, some 36 million dollars. It did > so with bridge financing from the Netherlands, which it in turn had > to pay off from 44 million dollars drawn against the IMF's > post-conflict loan facility. > > Fund officials say Bosnia's ability to draw the money without having in > place an IMF-approved economic programme is proof of their flexibility > and willingness to help out war-torn countries. Future funding, > however, will be possible once the new government and the IMF have > finalised such an economic programme. > > The announcement of Robert's appointment follows a slow-down in international > aid for reconstruction called by Carl Bildt, the senior international envoy to > Bosnia. > > Bildt wants donors to withhold aid as a way of forcing the creation of > multi-ethnic institutions. In an interview with the 'Financial Times' > Wednesday, he said he would ''seek more clearly defined powers next > year to oversee the reconstruction effort, in order to make the use of > aid as a political lever more effective.'' > > Decisions on economic assistance should be linked explicitly to compliance > with the Dayton accords, Bildt was reported to have told the newspaper. > > ''The country is virtually stangled,'' Chossudovsky said. ''In the first > place, they have been made entirely dependent on foreign credit. In > the second place, they are unable to mobilise effective foreign credit > because of their debt to the Paris Club, and then, (Bildt) calls for a > moratorium on reconstruction aid.'' > > The announcement also follows press reports of infighting and competition > between donors, which is believed to have hampered relief and > reconstruction efforts. > > The World Bank, which put together a 150-million-dollar package of > concessional > loans and grants even before Bosnia became its 180th member last > April, has denied recent allegations it has held financing and project > implementation hostage to its own ambitions of making policy on > behalf of other donors. > > The IMF Wednesday also announced the nominations of three other members > of the Bosnian central bank's governing board: Kasim Omicevic, the current > governor of the National Bank of Bosnia and Hercegovina; Jure Pelivan, > a former governor of the Bosnian national bank; and Manojlo Coric, > governor of the National Bank of Republika Srpska, the Serb entity > comprising nearly half of Bosnia's territory. > > During Robert's stint with the Haitian central bank, the government of > President Rene Preval signed on to a structural adjustment programme > engineered by the IMF and World Bank. > > As governor of the Bosnian central bank, he will in effect head a currency > board charged with issuing a new domestic currency in exchange for purchases > of foreign exchange. Under the IMF's six-year mandate, the central bank > will have no power to set or steer monetary policy. That job is being done > by IMF missions to Bosnia, officials said. > > The IMF is required to ''consult'' the Bosnian government before appointing > the central bank chief. Diplomatic sources here confirmed the > government was consulted, but would not comment on whether Sarajevo > had any effective say in the matter.(END/IPS/A A/JL/96) = 10301801 > WAS015 = 10302239 NYC113 > > > = 10302047 IPS Washington OMA004 > > > > > Michel Chossudovsky > > Department of Economics, > University of Ottawa, > Ottawa, K1N6N5 > > Fax: 1-613-7892050 > E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Alternative fax: 1-613-5625999 > >
