Economic Expert: IMF is Kind of Global Policeman

Miodrag Zec/BETAPHOTO

Miodrag Zec, an economy professor, said in a Nov. 2 interview with the N1 TV that the International Monetary Fund (IMF), whose mission was visiting Serbia to discuss a new arrangement with the Fund, was an organization that could be described as a kind of international policeman or a school inspector of sorts.

“The IMF is coming if a state has problems with external liquidity, finding it difficult to repay its debts. They are not coming to help,” he said. When asked how come that government officials were saying something else, Professor Zec said that any government “has the product called ‘creating optimism’,” and Serbia’s was “extremely imaginative.”

Zec does not think that the new government can rectify the situation, but he doesn’t think it’s the government’s job either – what it needs to do is to create a system where things will operate properly on their own.

“Contrary to the prevailing opinion, ministers can’t do it, it’s not their job. Their job is to make sure that we have transparent and good laws. A system is required for things to develop normally. There is no clear system here, everything is operated manually. They say, if I’m in the driver’s seat, I’l drive you to a happy future. The car has run out of fuel, and the brakes are too old, but who cares?,” Zec said, adding that the new cabinet is “a bit odd,” involving so many ministries, as opposed to the U.S. government that had only eight.