Eurozone crisis: IMF admits mistakes over Greece bailout - as it happened

Guardian ^ | 06/05/2013 | Graeme Weardon

[TexGrill]

Mea Culpas: translated....Here are a few mea culpas from the final section of the IMF report (p49 and 50), to ponder...

1) With regard to Fund involvement, the view expressed was that it would have been better if the crisis could have been resolved within the EU/euro zone, but neither the authorities nor the EC or ECB had the required program experience. The Fund’s experience in crisis resolution made it a necessary part of the process.

Translation: We'd rather have not been there at all. But they'd have done an even worse job without us.

2) Later, the possibility of Greece exiting the euro became a public debate by the euro partners, a discussion that should have occurred behind closed doors.

Translation: why in God's name wouldn't they shut up about Grexit?

3) The common view was that no-one could have predicted the depth and length of the recession. However, officials acknowledged that the program’s macroeconomic projections had risks to the downside that materialized in a context of political instability and deposit outflows.

Also, in calculating the effects of tax measures, price and income elasticities were underestimated and this reduced the revenue yield

Translation: Perhaps we should have known how bad things would be. But again, who knew better?...

[TexGrill]

Loks like the IMF, World Bank, and EU are all pointing fingers at each other.

[Jonty30]

It wasn’t a mistake. It was deliberate.

[RetiredTexasVet]

The old “everyone is responsible, therefore no one is accountable” .... typical government dodge.