Representatives of Eesti Pank and the Ministry of Finance participated in the meetings of the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Development Committee of the World Bank (DC) on 4-5 October and in the Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank Group held in Istanbul, Turkey on October 6.

The main issue of the IMFC meeting was the recovery outlooks for the global economy and financial markets. It was emphasised the crisis was not over yet and the monetary and fiscal policy support in several major economies had to continue. At the same time, it is necessary to start planning putting an end to extraordinary policies, for instance, to decide when and how to reduce the sharply increased role of the state in financial-sector enterprises.

Looking head, the main issues are the restoration of global growth and coping with the rapidly grown public debt burden, which is a problem chiefly in advanced economies. The IMFC was provided an overview of the IMF's Early Warning Exercise system model. Another issues discussed at the meeting included the role of the IMF in the post-crisis world and the need to specify the IMF's monitoring mandate, especially strengthening the monitoring of the financial sector. The latter idea found support also from the Nordic-Baltic constituency, including Estonia. For developing and emerging economies, which are often under-represented in international financial institutions, an important message was the agreement to review issues related to the management of the IMF and World Bank, the right to vote and representation.

The Minister of Finance and Governor of Eesti Pank met with the management of the IMF and Director of the European Department. Estonia was recognised for it economic policies against the backdrop of the global economic crisis. "The IMF declared its support for both Estonia's economic policy and the country's objective to adopt the euro as soon as possible. The IMF is of the opinion the single currency is a feasible goal and supports Estonia's efforts in this field," said Governor of Eesti Pank Andres Lipstok.

The Minister of Finance Jürgen Ligi said it is very important for Estonia to make it internationally known that our fiscal policy and monetary situation are very different from the impression created by the news covering our region. "The message we need to convey to both investors and international financial institutions is that our economy is stabilising and we are close to meeting the Maastricht criteria."

The Estonian delegation had also meetings with representatives of rating agencies and commercial banks. These included speaking about the Estonian economic situation and it was affirmed both our economic policy and the financial system are reliable.

The IMFC is an advisory body of the IMF supervising the development of the international monetary and financial system. The IMFC meetings take place biannually and are attended by, in addition to the committee's own members, representatives from the IMF member countries and international organisations. The Development Committee is a similar advisory body by the World Bank. The communiqués of the IMFC and the World Bank's DC are available on the IMF's web page at www.imf.org/external/am/2009/index.htm. Webcasts of presentations at the Annual Meetings are also available on the same page.