Balance of power

The UK's John Maynard Keynes despaired of "committees and commissions numbering anything up to 200 people, in rooms with bad acoustics, shouting through microphones, with each wanting to get something on the record that would look well inthe press at home".But somehow it delivered.

And thus, next month, delegations from 184 countries willgather in Washington for the 60th annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. Celebrations will, however, be muted. The past decade has not been a happy one for the Fund. A succession of financial crises in emerging market countries has undermined its reputation for promoting global economic stability. And with US interest rates heading up again, there may be more turbulence ahead.