Dr. Donal Donovan:

I would say that I would not quite share that characterisation by Professor Stiglitz, and I would not be alone in that view. The issues have been debated and will be debated widely and extensively. His view is one-sided and I do not agree with it. Of course countries are independent. To refer to anything coming from Britain, France or the United States as coming from an ex-colony - that may be the case. It is true that the IMF is run by those who contribute the most money. Again, that is the way it is. Those countries tend to be countries that are large and have had perhaps a colonial history so it is easy enough to say that the IMF is ex-colonial powers coming back again. I am not sure that is helpful.