IMF struggles to shake off harsh image

Following the G20 leaders' meeting in London this April, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing-director of the International Monetary Fund, greeted the media with the simple message: "We're back."

The IMF has indeed had a "good" crisis, with politicians around the world opting to step-up funding and extend the mandate of an organisation whose agenda prior to the credit crunch had become dominated by report writing rather than lending.

Considerable attempts have also been made to shake...