ABSTRACT

The heads of state of the major industrial countries decided at the Versailles Summit in June 1982 to invite the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund to participate in the regular multilateral meetings of their finance ministers and central bank governors. Accordingly, three months later, when the Fund’s Governors gathered in Toronto for the Annual Meetings, the private (and then secret) G-5 meeting1 began with a presentation by the Managing Director, Jacques de Larosière, on the Fund’s view of the World Economic Outlook (WEO) and its implications for macroeconomic policies. From then on, de Larosière-and later his successor, Michel Camdessus-built their presentations in these semi-annual meetings around the global outlook.