The United States will continue to play a major role in the International Monetary Fund, top administration officials told Newsmax on Thursday.
The pro-IMF sentiments from Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council, and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin came after years of criticism of the economic colossus from conservatives in and out of Congress.
Fearing that U.S. taxpayers would be left holding the bag for IMF bailouts of unstable economies such as that in Greece, House and Senate Republicans launched a major effort in Congress in 2011 to rescind U.S. support for the IMF.
Asked by Newsmax if the IMF will be discussed at the G-20 summit of economic powers in Hamburg July 6-8, Cohn replied: “I don’t think the IMF directly will come up during the G-20. The IMF will be there. They’re one of the participants at the G-20. That said, I’m having discussions with IMF leadership, and we’ve got very amicable discussions with IMF going on.”
Pressed if he was referring to IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, Cohn said “yes.”
Cohn’s view was seconded by Mnuchin.
“I’ve had the pleasure of meeting with Christine at least a dozen times,” he told me. “I think the IMF plays a very important role in looking at currency and world economies. The IMF was very helpful in regards to stabilizing the Greece [financial crisis] and working with Europe. I think that could have been a major problem this summer that would have had significant concerns to the markets and the economy, and I think she was a very important part of those negotiations.”
I asked if the U.S. would maintain its present level of support for the IMF — roughly $113 billion (or 17 percent of its total resources) for this year — despite fears of a Greek default on its international loans.
Mnuchin replied: “The IMF commitment to Greece was quite small. I’m not even sure that Greece is necessarily going to use that, so I think the significance was really more of a stamp of approval. And, again, there’s no direct cost to the U.S. or the taxpayers. And we’re supportive of the IMF, although we’ll look at our contributions to the IMF like we look at all contributions very carefully and making sure we’re spending the taxpayers’ money properly.”
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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