Chavez Uses Oil To Lend In Latin America, Pushing IMF Aside

The international lender's worldwide portfolio has shriveled to $11.8 billion from a peak of $81 billion in 2004, and a single nation, Turkey, now accounts for about 75 percent. As its lending wanes, so does the fund's ability to influence government policies. The IMF and its sister institution, the World Bank, have used aid to promote free trade, unfettered investment flows and limited government. "We don't accept the kind of development the World Bank and International Monetary Fund want to push on us to change our hopes, our souls, our pain," Chavez told a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Havana last September. Chavez has proposed creating Banco del Sur, or Bank of the South, to supplant international lenders. Such a bank would allow Latin American nations to avoid the policy conditions that generally come with IMF loans. "Chavez's effort to undermine the IMF is also an effort to undermine the Washington consensus on privatization and liberal economics," said Francisco Rodriguez, a professor of Latin American studies at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. Chavez's presidential press office said he was unavailable for comment. IMF spokesman Bill Murray declined to comment. Chavez has used the wealth of Latin America's largest oil exporter to extend his financial influence. Oil exports last year rose 21 percent to $58.4 billion, according to Venezuela's central bank. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=atN8OPWGA4nE&refer=news [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on March 1, 2007]

Note: http://www.bloomberg.co...