In the history of the IMF, there are two iconic names: Jacques de Larosière and Michel Camdessus, two directors who have left their mark on this institution. Here we have the testimony of one of them, who headed the Fund for a period (1987-2000) extraordinarily eventful: the Wall, the collapse of the USSR, the crises in Mexico, Thailand , South Korea, Indonesia Michel Camdessus us live these shocks sometimes daily: meetings with reluctant governments or the verge of panic, meetings with heads of state who refuse to give in reason, back-and-forth incessant trying to convince everyone. The actors of recent history parade: Jaruzelski, Soeharto, Lee Kwan Yew, Kim Dae-jung, but John Paul II, Boris Yeltsin, Margaret Thatcher, with stories of unreleased interviews to date. Halfway between a diary and memoirs, the book takes us into the heart of the IMF, strikingly. It allows to better understand the work of an organization that is often criticized for "horse cures" administered to countries in difficulty. The book by Michel Camdessus shows that this is not so simple: the recommended programs are poorly or poorly applied, corruption of many regimes hampers the recovery and major developed countries are dragging their feet to "put their hands in the pocket ". One can obviously think that some aspects of this testimony are "pro domo", and that the IMF is not the White Knight of the planet. Everyone will make his own opinion, but who is interested in scenes of the world economy, the testimony of someone who was ringside for 13 years is captivating.
