Are IMF policies in Pakistan\'s interest?

It is a rare day in Pakistan when a major newspaper does not carry a story on the International Monetary Fund (IMF), its pronouncements, and its demands. The Fund has acquired a pivotal role in the management of Pakistan's economy. Two questions need to be asked: First, how is it that a group of remote international bureaucrats can dictate economic policies to the government? And second, are Pakistan's interests served by these policies? In the tattered world economy of the post-war period, the IMF and its sister organisation, the World Bank, made good sense. The World Bank set about financing the reconstruction of European economies devastated by the war. The IMF's role was to promote international monetary cooperation, facilitate balanced trade, and ensure global financial stability in the aftermath of World War II. It aimed to prevent the competitive currency devaluations and trade restrictions that had exacerbated the Great Depression.