A number of European countries – including Belarus, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Romania, Serbia, and the Ukraine – have undertaken adjustment programs supported, in part, by financial assistance by the Fund. These programs have helped increase confidence and have reduced pressure on capital outflows.
Corporate scandals and evidence of fraud and malfeasance notwithstanding, the history of ever-rising standards of living in a world fearful of violence is extraordinary testimony to the resilience of free peoples engaged in commerce.