UN General Assembly
2004

the multilateral financial agencies, the country experienced a financial crisis that is still not entirely resolved. In 2002, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) made a serious mistake in diagnosing the problem that led to major prognostic errors and poor policy recommendations. On the basis of our more recent experience, and because of the debt experience, we conclude that we have to provide greater leeway to national authorities. We need a different relationship with the IMF, one favouring a solution consistent with the countryís capacity to pay, sustainable over the medium and long term and supportive of the principles of equality, social justice, the fight against poverty, hunger and unemployment. We must promote the reformulation of fiscal accounting methods in the majority of countries, and in particular in the international financial organizations, with the aim of excluding investment in infrastructure, from current spending in the calculation of surpluses. We know that fiscal surpluses are necessary in order to stabilize economies and respect obligations to the international financial community, but it must be understood that no surplus is defensible. When