Once upon a time, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) seemed immune to criticism, regardless of the damage its neo-liberal policy impositions inflicted around the globe. That immunity was finally torn away by the East Asian financial crisis of 1997-98, when criticism of the IMF’s interventions came from all sides. After that, IMF's legitimacy fell into a deep crisis with a destiny still unknown. This report presents a timeline of some of the principal events of this turbulent period, starting in June 2005 and running through May 2007.

Once upon a time, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) seemed immune to criticism, regardless of the damage its neo- liberal policy impositions inflicted around the globe. That immunity was finally torn away by the East Asian financial crisis of 1997-98, when criticism of the IMF’s interventions came from all sides. A famous photograph of long-time IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus standing, cross-armed, over Indonesian President Suharto as he signed the papers for an IMF “bail-out” summed up the neo-colonial “overlord” role that the IMF’s critics had long charged it with.

The Argentine crisis of 2001-02, where the IMF’s culpability in creating the crisis was generally acknowledged, probably put the recuperation of the institution’s reputation permanently out of reach.

But the IMF continued to lurch along, on “automatic pilot”, under the unimaginative leadership of Horst Köhler and Rodrigo Rato, Camdessus’s successors. But since 2005, the IMF has suffered a rapid succession of blows, and seems less like the haughty overlord of 1998 than a boxer staggering around the ring trying to evade the knock-out punch. Presented here is a timeline of some of the events of this turbulent period, starting in June 2005 and running through May 2007.

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