The concluding statement of the IMF’s Article IV consultations includes the following sentence: “Rebalancing the economy in the current framework of an exchange rate peg requires strong implementation of a large and credible fiscal adjustment and ambitious structural reforms.” Here at Executive this sentence sparked cynical jokes. We sensed from the reaction from our politicians, expected of course, that they had wholly misread this sentence, and so we feel compelled to explain it. The exchange rate peg, when it was adopted in the early 1990s, was a measure to ensure the monetary stability necessary to implement any state plan to trigger a prosperous cycle, a more efficient and effective use of public resources, functional public services, a thriving private sector, and an educational landscape that takes full advantage of the human resources of our country. It is only in these circumstances that a stronger local currency would render the exchange
