Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services, gave the following statement at a Subcommittee on National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy hearing entitled, “The Role of the International Monetary Fund in a Changing Global Landscape.”

Thank you, Chairman Himes. The International Monetary Fund has long been criticized for its willingness to impose painful reforms on countries in crisis with little concern for how the burden of these painful economic adjustments were distributed in society. In many cases, the effect was to undermine democracy itself as the people who were made to bear the short-term pain began to associate the IMF’s imposed austerity with their democratic government. While there’s been some improvement recently, I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today, not only on the issue of conditionality but also the increasing levels of debt distress many countries now face, and how we should best address these challenges.

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