Jul 30, 1998

US-INDIA BOP DISPUTE PANEL SEEKS MORE TIME

Geneva, 27 July (Chakravarthi Raghavan) -- The Dispute Settlement Panel of the World Trade Organization hearing the US complaint against India over restrictions on imports on agricultural and industrial products, previously maintained for balance-of-payments reasons, has notified that its report would not be ready within the six month period of the DSU, and would now be made available to the parties towards the end of the year.  

The panel chaired by Brazil's Amb. Celso Lafer, in a notification has said that the reason for the delay is the consultations it is holding with the IMF on the balance of payments issues raised in the dispute.  

Trade officials said that the panel has addressed some detailed questions to the IMF. 

The report will be studied by observers for more than the direct trade issues. In the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis, a number of mainstream economists have accused the IMF and its staff of orchestrating policies and prescribing conditionalities for loans so as to advance the trade interests of the United States. Pronouncements of the US treasury and its trade officials have openly said they are pursuing US trade interests with the IMF. 

The panel rulings, as well as the IMF views, particularly in the context of the views of mainstream economists about the various elements taken into account by the IMF in judging adequacy of reserves of countries, will be scrutinised by non-trade experts too. The IMF in some recent letters to the WTO has sought to extend its 'empire' by claiming that its views and judgements, apart from the facts, are binding on the WTO, even in dispute settlement processes. These are based on questionable interpretations of the rules.