Treasury Continues to Maintain Its Formal Process to Promote U.S. Policies at the International Monetary Fund

Over the years, Congress has shown extensive interest in legislating U.S. policies regarding the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Currently, the administration is charged with responding to dozens of legislative mandates related to the IMF including advocacy for certain IMF policies, instructions for U.S. voting positions on IMF assistance to borrower countries, and requirements to report to Congress on various aspects of U.S. participation in the IMF. In 2003 and 2004, we reported that the United States had maintained nearly 70 legislative mandates prescribing U.S. policy goals at the IMF. These mandates covered a wide range of policies, including policies regarding combating terrorism, human rights, international trade, and weapons proliferation. As an international organization, the IMF is generally exempt from U.S. law. However, Congress can seek to influence IMF policy by directing the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the U.S. Executive Director to pursue certain policy considerations or to vote in a particular way on IMF programs or on assistance to specific countries, as part of the Director's duties within the IMF's Executive Board. In 2000, Congress directed us to assess the Department of the Treasury's (Treasury) efforts in advancing U.S. legislative mandates at the IMF. The Consolidated Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2000 requires us to report annually on the extent to which IMF practices are consistent with U.S. policies as set forth in federal law. In January 2001, we reported that Treasury instituted a formal process in 1999 to systematically promote congressionally mandated policies at the IMF. We also found that, although Treasury had had some influence over IMF policies, it was difficult to attribute the adoption of a policy within the IMF solely to the efforts of any one member, because the IMF generally makes decisions on the basis of consensus. In February 2003 and July 2004, we provided updates on (1) the status of the U.S. Treasury's process for advancing congressional mandates at the IMF and (2) the number of U.S. legislative mandates concerning the IMF. This report provides a similar update for 2005.