IMF unveils new corruption policy for member states

hurts the poor, hinders economic opportunity and social mobility, undermines trust in institutions and causes social cohesion to unravel,” IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in a statement.

“We have now adopted a framework for enhanced engagement on governance and corruption that aims for a more systematic, evenhanded, effective and candid engagement with member countries.”

Corruption and poor governance sap economic growth and exacerbate inequality, according to the IMF, and the new policy framework ensures the institutions will hold all members to the same standards — something it had not always done.

The new policy comes as Ukrainian authorities work to implement stringent new anticorruption reforms at the behest of the IMF, which has held up the latest instalment of a $17.5 billion aid package.

The revised good governance guidelines, which take effect on July 1, follows a recent review of the IMF’s 20-year-old policy framework which concluded the fund had sometimes employed euphemisms when discussing corruption in member states — leaving local officials unclear about IMF concerns. And IMF analysis sometimes failed to apply the same standards evenly to all members. (AFP)