According to its website, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was created in 1945 and is an organization of 189 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world[1].

What we will see, however, is that the IMF has actually contributed the exact opposite of what they claim in the purpose statement above.

One can easily research the history of the IMF’s interventions in countries around the world only to find a trail of disaster and looting which have left the countries with poorer economic growth, higher unemployment rates, and increased poverty.

The main modus operandi (the way of operating) of the IMF is to target and lend very large sums of money to countries – most often underdeveloped ones – that are experiencing serious financial difficulties. The IMF’s lending terms will frequently require the borrowing country’s government to impose harsh austerity measures. Austerity measures include things the government does to cut costs and save money such as reducing benefits, pensions, and the like. At first glance, this seems like a sound thing to do; however, economic history has shown time and time again that austerity simply doesn’t work, as it reduces the amount of employment and economic activity which is essential to stimulate growth.

Most often, unfortunately, the capital and interest from these loans end up being much too large for these countries to ever pay back. Yet once these loans have been dispensed, there is no turning back. As will be demonstrated with the Greece example below, the IMF will sometimes partner with another lender organization (such as the World Bank or European Central Bank for instance) as to exert even more influence to the borrowing country to repay. Think of the IMF as really big loan shark. Later on, when the borrowing country is no longer deemed solvent enough to repay back the loan, the IMF and its bully partners are quick to demand a further restructuring of its policies and even the seizure or privatization of its assets and resources. Such actions will further exacerbate the country’s ills and impoverish its citizens.

While all this may appear quite conspiratorial in nature, it is exactly what is occurring and has been occurring at the IMF for a very long time. To give credibility to this claim, we need to consider the perspective of an insider – someone who has worked at various levels with the IMF, World Bank, and other key players. The American John Perkins is one such insider; as Chief Economist at a major international consulting firm, John Perkins advised the World Bank, United Nations, IMF, U.S. Treasury Department, Fortune 500 corporations, and leaders of countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East[2]. John Perkins is a best-selling author known for his highly acclaimed 2004 book entitled ‘Confessions of an Economic Hit Man’. The book was originally published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers in 2004 but has been updated in 2016 as ‘The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man’.

In an abstract for his book, Perkins says that as an "Economic Hit Man" his job was to convince countries that are strategically important to the United States to accept enormous loans for infrastructure development and to make sure that the lucrative projects were contracted to U.S. corporations. In describing what Economic Hit Men are and what they actually do, he says:

“They funnel money from the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign “aid” organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet’s natural resources. Their tools include fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder. They play a game as old as empire, but one that has taken on new and terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization. I should know; I was an EHM.” [3]

Although the quote from above was from 2004, he recently stated that the Economic Hit Man “model” was very much still in effect today and is even more sophisticated[4].

When Perkins was hired as an economist for the firm of Chas. T. Main his primary objectives were to produce economic growth projections that would make the case for a variety of major projects and, accordingly, justify huge loans for countries. He was supposed to help bankrupt the countries that received these loans after the U.S. companies involved had been paid. This would make sure that these countries would remain in debt to their creditors and would then be easy targets when the U.S. needed favors such as military bases, UN votes and access to natural resources like oil. All of these projects were meant to make huge profits for the contractors. The problem is that these countries simply cannot handle the debt of these loans and their poorest citizens are deprived of health, education and other social services for several decades as these countries struggle economically to overcome their huge debts[5].

The previous paragraph outlines the main duties Perkins followed along with their underlying objectives from which the source also provides instances of countries – Indonesia, Panama, Saudi Arabia – in which he was operating.

In a 2014 article and interview[6], Perkins demonstrates how Greece has fallen victim to “Economic Hit Men”. In the fascinating interview, Perkins describes how the IMF and EU (European Union) operates in much the same way as he did in the past:

“…they were left holding a huge debt, very much like what Greece has today, a phenomenal debt…And once [they were] bound by that debt, we would go back, usually in the form of the IMF - and in the case of Greece today, it's the IMF and the EU [European Union] - and make tremendous demands on the country: increase taxes, cut back on spending, sell public sector utilities to private companies, things like power companies and water systems, transportation systems, privatize those, and basically become a slave to us, to the corporations, to the IMF, in your case to the EU, and basically, organizations like the World Bank, the IMF, the EU, are tools of the big corporations, what I call the "corporatocracy."”

The excerpt above is extremely revealing to say the least. The selling of public sector utilities to private foreign corporations basically amounts to the financial raping of a country’s most precious assets. It’s also interesting to note that he also includes the European Union in the mix of thugs which is not all that surprising given that it is also a supranational organization that is extremely powerful and is headed by appointed (rather than elected) officials.

When asked how these international organizations go back in to get their “pound of flesh” (i.e., what must be paid back), he goes on to reply:

“By insisting that the countries adopt policies that will sell their publicly owned utility companies, water and sewage systems, maybe schools, transportation systems, even jails, to the big corporations. Privatize, privatize. Allow us to build military bases on their soil. Many things can be done, but basically, they become servants to what I call the corporatocracy. You have to remember that today we have a global empire, and it's not an American empire. It's not a national empire. It doesn't help the American people very much. It's a corporate empire, and the big corporations rule. They control the politics of the United States, and to a large degree they control a great deal of the policies of countries like China, around the world.”

He thus now outlines that it is not just American corporations who do the looting, but rather a global corporate empire which he refers to as a “corporatocracy”.

Interestingly, Perkins now devotes much of his time to help inform the public as well as foreign governments and institutions about these nefarious activities. As a case in point, he mentions that he appeared on Greek television during the time in which a Greek film company did a documentary entitled “Apology of an Economic Hit Man” in which he elaborates:

“…and I also spent a lot of time in Iceland and in Ireland. I was invited to Iceland to help encourage the people there to vote on a referendum not to repay their debts, and I did that and encouraged them not to, and they did vote no, and as a result, Iceland is doing quite well now economically compared to the rest of Europe.”

Iceland, as Perkins describes as a “not-to-be-bullied” nation which chose to not repay their debts is an interesting case indeed. Moreover, following the Financial Crisis of 2007-2008 Iceland was perhaps the only country that actually stood up to the bankers (or shall I call them “banksters”?) by prosecuting and jailing them since they were the main contributors that lead to the crisis. So, hopefully, the lesson here is that even smaller countries can stand up to these criminal organizations. But, sadly, that is more the exception than the rule, as these supranational organizations like the IMF and World Bank don’t really accept defeat.

In his book, Perkins notes that back in his day, countries such as Ecuador and Panama had leaders that actually cared for their people and wanted to make sure that their citizens could benefit from such loans and projects. But, as Perkins states, these particular leaders who didn’t “go along with the program” or “play the game” so to speak would get a visit from CIA-sanctioned “jackals” (as Perkins refers to them) who would take them out either by a coup or by assassination.

One needn’t look any further than in the Articles of Agreement[7] of the IMF itself, to notice how secretive and nefarious the organization is. Similar to the BIS, the IMF has its own dirty little secrets which they also make difficult to find, but can nonetheless be consulted from their own website. Just have a look at the following sections from Article IX – Status, Immunities, and Privileges to notice the similarities with those of the BIS:

Here, the Fund refers to the IMF. The section declares their immunity from the “judicial process”. To clarify the precise meaning of this term, we can consult its definition from Merriam-Webster dictionary which states: “the series of steps in the course of the administration of justice through the established system of courts”. The term “immunity” means protection from legal action, such as in “diplomatic immunity” whereby country officials conducting business in another country would be exempt from its laws. In other words, the IMF and its property and assets are untouchable by a country’s courts and even if they commit any wrongdoing, justice may never be administered.

The following two sections serve as added layers of protection:

Section 5 shows that the archives of the IMF are “inviolable” which basically means impregnable, or which cannot be consulted. Now, one would have to ask why the IMF would deny anyone access to its archives. After all, for an organization which states as its mission: “to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world”, why couldn’t we see their data and information related to these aspects to indeed verify if they are accomplishing what they purportedly set out to do. One can easily ask: What do they have to hide?

Section 8 grants all officers and employees of the IMF legal immunity from any form of prosecution in addition to special privileges:

Briefly put, any employee or officer (no matter where they are conducting their business) of the IMF is untouchable and basically enjoys diplomatic immunity and can never be apprehended during travel. Including such clauses into their Articles of Agreement makes it quite clear and obvious that they consider themselves above the law of any nation, no matter what they do, how they do it, who they harm, or what they steal. Are those the ideals or principles of an organization that is supposed to do good in the world?

But wait, it gets even more heinous:

All of the IMFs income proceeds, assets, property are free from taxation, interest expense, as well as customs and duties regardless of which countries they operate in. Moreover, not a single IMF employee pays income tax from salaries received no matter where they work. How an organization that makes huge loans and charges monumental amounts of interest (apart from all the other assets they steal and plunder) which usually ends up being paid by the poorest of the poor can conduct itself with such an inequitable manner is beyond the scope of human comprehension. Perhaps worst, however, is how countries and citizens can stand idly by and watch and accept this.