Dhaka, Jan. 3 -- George Bernard Shaw, the famous Irish playwright, once memorably quipped: "If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion." It is very often the case that two experienced, knowledgeable economists study and analyse the same data sets relating to an economy, and each comes up with a different forecast for the nation's economic future.

The time may have come by now to extend Shaw's insight to institutions - specifically, the kind spawned in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire during the closing stages of the Second World War. Namely, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. While the IMF's main purpose may still be focused on Europe (even as it morphs into some new role under the leadership o...