Proposal by I.M.F. 'despicable’

Press, 19 October 1982, Page 12

Proposal by I.M.F. 'despicable’

PA Wellington An International Monetary Fund proposal to lend $llOO million to South Africa is despicable, says the member of Parliament for Wanganui, Mr C. R. Marshall. The effect of the loan would be to bolster apartheid, to entrench the power of the white minority, and to inflict even greater suffering on the black majority, he said. “The fact that the I.M.F. is even considering such a loan is final proof that it is just one of the major institutional impediments to the development of a just, stable, and fair world economy. "I challenge the Prime Minister to denounce immediately the I.M.F. loan to South Africa. “His response to this challenge will indicate whether he is serious when he talks about the need for changes in the world economy.” Mr Marshall said the

I.M.F. had made many decisions which had been damaging to the development of a new economic order. It had created suffering in the countries to which it had lent money by insisting on policies such as cuts in government spending, abolition of consumer subsidies, control of wage rises, and a dismantling of price controls. “The I.M.F. was, of course, a creation of the Bretton Woods conference, and it is clear the Prime Minister's talk of reforming or renegotiating a Bretton Woods agreement is nonsense,” Mr Marshall said. What came out of Bretton Woods 40 years ago had condemned the majority of the world's people to poverty and millions to death and starvation. “It is absurd to try to reform such a system. We must replace it.” Mr Marshall said.