Top economist criticizes IMF as he submits resignation

     Peter Doyle a top economist who worked at the IMF (International Monetary Fund) for 20 years has resigned. His resignation letter is short and sour. He said that the leadership was "tainted" and that he was "ashamed" to have worked at the organization.
    Doyle speaks of  "incompetence", "failings" and "disastrous " appointments of directors stretching back over a decade. No one from the IMF has yet commented on Doyle's resignation or his criticism of the Fund.
   Doyle was adviser to the European Department. That department controls bailout programs for Greece, Portugal and Ireland. Doyle believes that the IMF failed to warn about the urgency of  Europe's financial problems and the global financial crisis.
   The IMF itself  had also made criticisms on this score but in much milder language! Doyle suggests that the warnings that were issued were not sustained and often suppressed.
    Doyle's view that the leadership was tainted is not a personal attack on any specific director but an attack on the agreement between Europe and the U.S. that the head of the IMF will be a European and of the World Bank an American.  There is really no open process in the selection of the leader. For a top employee of  the IMF Doyle's language is surprising.
   Doyle says:"Even the current incumbent [Christine Lagarde] is tainted, as neither her gender, integrity, or elan can make up for the fundamental illegitimacy of the selection process.": "There are good salty people here. But this one is moving on. You might want to take care not to lose the others." Although the IMF could not be reached for comment by the BBC, CNN in the U.S. reports that a spokesperson for the IMF claims that there is nothing to substantiate Doyle's allegations.
   The spokesperson mentioned that the IMF itself  had its own investigations into its work on the financial crisis. Of course Doyle noted this but claimed that the warnings were not sustained and often even suppressed. Doyle's criticism of the selection process can hardly be said to be baseless. The criticism is quite correct. Indeed in the latest selection of the World Bank president the process was opened somewhat due to the type of criticism Doyle made. However, the result was the same in that an American ended up as head of the Bank. For more see this article.  More on the IMF can be found here.