Sir,
We were surprised to see that Euromoney, a respected and widely read magazine, would publish a story (March 1996) on the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the region's major source of multilateral finance, without verifying the facts. The story combined misleading information with innuendo to construct a picture of the Bank that is not consistent with the image our shareholders have, judging from the support they continue to demonstrate for the Bank, most recently and eloquently expressed by them at our April 1996 Annual Meeting in Buenos Aires.
The IDB is working closely with our borrowing members in many challenging areas that are new both for the Bank and the countries. This has required the Bank to become a leaner, more flexible, and more dynamic institution. To that end, a serious effort of organizational restructuring, and revision of policies and procedures, has taken place in recent years, drawing on experience and on best practice from inside and outside the Bank, and with the full participation of our Board, of management and of staff. We are proud of the process and the outcome of our modernization effort.
It is regrettable that your reporter did not take the opportunity to meet with the Bank's president, or apparently, with any senior managers currently in the Bank.