Meltzer Commission Final Report

The Commission submitted its final report to the U.S. Congress and Department of Treasury on March 8th, 2000. The report states that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group are largely failing in their mission to address world poverty and economic stability, and need major overhaul.
Unanimously, the Commission supported a proposal maintaining that the IMF restrict its efforts to short-term crises assistance and recommended that the IMF, the World Bank and the various regional development banks forgive their loan claims held against the heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC).

Structural recommendations for the IMF and the multilateral development banks call for "far-reaching changes to improve the effectiveness, accountability, and transparency of the financial institutions and to eliminate overlapping responsibilities." (Allan Meltzer, IFIAC Report, March 1999). It also recommends that the World Bank and regional development banks especially should limit their activities to technical assistance and administering poverty alleviation grants.