The International Monetary Fund’s Executive Board has appointed a team of high-profile economists including Rwanda’s former president of the African Development Bank Dr. Donald Kaberuka to undertake an external evaluation of its Independent Evaluation Office.
Dr. Kaberuka who is currently the African Union High representative for the Peace Fund and board member of World Economic Forum board of trustees, will chair the board that will carry out the third external evaluation of IEO.
Dr. Kaberuka, who also served as Rwanda’s Finance minister from 1997-2005 and holds a PhD in economics from University of Glasgow, Scotland, is credited for having elevated the AfDB’s role in Africa as a leading development institution.
His ten-year tenure at the bank has been praised as one of the most transformational, maintaining the triple AAA rating, tripling its capital and expanding its resource base and portfolio.
He drove a big push on infrastructure, leading from the front on the private sector which doubled its commitments in ten years, promoting economic integration and providing a robust counter-cyclical response during the global financial crisis.
Others appointed on the board include Der Jiun Chia, the Assistant Managing Director of the Markets and Investment Group at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, as well as Pernilla Meyersson, acting chief of staff at the General Secretariat of the Sveriges Riksbank, the Central Bank of Sweden.
“The evaluation process will assess how successfully the IEO has met its goals to serve as a means to enhance the learning culture within the Fund, strengthen the Fund’s external credibility, and support the Executive Board’s institutional governance and oversight responsibilities,” IMF said in a statement on October 2.
The global financial body said the evaluators have discretion in the conduct of their investigation within this broad contour.
The IEO is an independent body of management and operates at “arm’s length” from the Executive board, reporting directly to the IMF’s Executive Board.
Dr. Kaberuka currently sits on several other boards including the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.
“He is a highly knowledgeable economist on development issues, with huge experience in global finance and his appointment will benefit IMF a great deal,” says Emmanuel Ndushabandi, a Rwandan economist.
“When the IEO was established by the IMF Executive Board in 2001, it was envisaged that periodic external evaluations would be carried out to assess its effectiveness and to consider possible improvements to its structure, mandate, operational modalities, or Terms of Reference,” reads part of the statement.
The first and second external evaluations were commissioned and discussed by the IMF Executive Board in 2006 and 2013 respectively.
The past two external evaluations were clear that the IEO has been a successful institution and that it has played an important role in improving the governance and transparency of the IMF.
Together with his team, Kaberuka is likely to focus on reviewing the extent to which the office had succeeded during its operation in fulfilling its mandates since 2013, but also make recommendations to enhance its role in IMF’s effectiveness.
The external evaluators will be holding their first round of discussions in Washington, D.C. during the 2017 Annual Meetings.