Summary
At the critical moment of a Hollywood movie starring A-lister Sandra Bullock, Bolivia's newly elected president calls in the International Monetary Fund to bail out the poverty-stricken country, violating a campaign promise.
The writers knew the IMF would be unquestionably accepted as the arch enemy of the people.
After 75 years putting out financial fires around the world, the IMF and World Bank face criticism for repeatedly failing to prevent crises and for making things worse for the people they were meant to help.
In each case, the damage lasted for a decade or more and the IMF was blamed for inflicting even more pain with its rigid demands and policy advice that, according to the fund's harshest critics, too often favored corporate interests in the rich countries over the poor nations in trouble.
Greater representation Agustin Carstens, former head of the Mexican central bank and once a deputy managing director of the IMF, credits the organizations with providing needed oversight and policy advice that has prevented "many more crises".
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