As Varoufakis’ experience shows, the cost of under-estimating the impact of
international economic diplomacy on the outcomes of complex international financial
negotiations can be unacceptably high.
The South African government must therefore prepare to sell its programme to the
IMF. This requires it to appoint negotiators who have a good understanding of both
the IMF as an institution and global financial diplomacy. They can make the South African case in the way that is most likely to convince the IMF staff and Board of
Executive Directors to support the South African programme.
These negotiators should also seek to exploit all the benefits that South Africa can harvest from its membership in the institutions of global economic governance. For
example, they can tap the experience and expertise of groups like the G24, a lobby
group for the interests of IMF developing member states in which South Africa
participates, to help it prepare for these negotiations.
56
They can also draw on the stores of information in international organisations like the
IMF, the World Bank and the African Development Bank that have had extensive
experience dealing with developing countries facing macro-economic crises. Access to
this information should be a benefit of membership. The executive directors that
represent South Africa at these institutions can help the government gain access to this information and, if appropriate, identify the relevant experts to consult.
Written by Danny Bradlow, SARCHI Professor of International Development Law and African Economic Relations, University of Pretoria.This article was originally published
Four things the World Bank and IMF want South Africa to do