An Essay on Credit Arrangements Between the IMF and the Republic of the Philippines: 1970-1983

Abstract

This paper examines the significant stand-by arrangements between the Philippines and the International Monetary Fund from 1970 to 1983. It discusses the conditions of each agreement and its success in bringing adjustment. It attempts to show the little progress achieved through any of these agreements in effecting short-term adjustments or structural changes, and to explain why the Philippine government, which showed so little interest in adjustment, would conclude an almost unbroken series of credit arrangements with the Fund. The good housekeeping seal of approval, it is argued, indeed resulted from the IMF-Philippine credit agreements and assured the Philippines of a high level of foreign capital inflows during this period. It is concluded that rather than helping to achieve economic adjustment in the period 1970-1983, IMF credits mat have actually enabled the Philippines to postpone measures that could have kept the country from falling into an economic crisis.