Dr. Donal Donovan:

Certainly the most extreme case. "Worst" is a word I would prefer not to use, but it is very striking and as I said in my testimony, and I am no historian of this, I cannot recall in my experience a situation where the rosy picture turned so negative in such a short period of time.

What could the IMF have done? It pushed for counter-cyclical fiscal policies but with no effect, and repeated it every year.