countries save to finance their deficits, growth is normally decreased a bit. after a few years, the countries can however reap the fruits of a more stable economy, in terms of lower inflation and higher growth. successful programs also have a positive effect on social policy in the countries. expenditure on education and healthcare in the poorest program countires increased by four per cent per capita between 1985 and 1998, and these areas now account for a larger share of the government budgets. countries with imf programs have seen more children in schools, increased literacy and access to clean water, and lower child mortality. swedish participation in the imf sweden is one of the creditor countries in the imf. in the board we share a seat together with the seven other nordic and baltic countries. as well as other country groups, we have an office in washington with representatives who work full time on pursuing our interests on the board. i worked at this office myself for over four years as nordic - baltic representative in the board. our board representatives receive guidance from their home countries on important issues and statements in the board are coordinated among our countries in advance. in sweden, the riksbank has the main responsibility for contacts with washington, but all issues are coordinated with the government offices where the ministry of finance is our contact. in certain cases, there is also consultation with the ministry for foreign affairs. the nordic and baltic countries are small on the board - our combined voting power is just over 3. 5 % of that of the imf as a whole. our opportunities to pursue policies on the board are in having sensible points of view on the proposals that are on the agenda and, together with other countries, trying to influence proposals so that they move in the direction we want them to. to some extent, we have an advantage in appearing independent on the board, since we represent neither the most influential creditors within g7 nor the large group of debtor countries. this means that our statements sometimes have more weight than our voting powers indicate. let me give three examples of issues where our countries have been actively involved in the imf. the first concerns the transparency of the imf. in sweden, we are accustomed to authorities publishing their decisions and their way of dealing with items. many international organisations on the other hand operate behind closed doors. however, the imf has become considerably more open in recent years, and today material on almost all activities is available, not least on the imf ’ s website ( www

inflow to bridge the gap. in such a situation, the country can apply to the imf for a loan. a team of economists is then quickly put together and sent to the country to assess how severe the crisis is and what has to be done to regain control over the situation. together with the country ’ s government, the imf staff rapidly creates an economic reform programme that runs over a couple of years. the purpose of this programme is to establish confidence in the country ’ s economy and in this way turn the outflow of capital to an inflow, so that the country can regain balance in its payments. during the period that the country is undergoing the programme, it can also borrow limited amounts from the imf to assist in covering parts of its deficit. the imf ’ s lending is thus relatively short - term. it is often sufficient with loans with a three to five year term to restore balance in the foreign payments. in the case of developing countries, however, it has increasingly been seen that short - term instability often depends on deep - seated structural problems. examples of this type of problem are inability to collect taxes, inefficient bankruptcy legislation, widespread corruption and weaknesses in the banking sector. these types of issues are in the borderland between the mandate of the imf and the world bank and the two organisations collaborate in initiatives in this area. among other things, the imf and the world bank have certain types of loans which, in combination with economic reform programmes, are focused on building long - term, strong structures in poor countries. another type of structural problem is the unsustainable foreign debts burden that some of the most poor developing countries have to contend with. for a couple of years, the imf and the world bank have been working together in debt relief projects for these countries. in practice, this implies writing off parts of the debts. the debt relief goes hand - in - hand with economic reforms in the countries, aimed at decreasing poverty. in the longer term it is only through a responsible economic policy, focused on growth, stability and sound government finances, that these countries can avoid debts building up again. an important part of the imf ’ s work with debt management in the poor countries is therefore to strive for the resources that are released in the country are invested long - term and in a way that benefits all the population. research shows that imf lending and programs are successful. in the years a program is implemented, and the