Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[welkins2139]

1) To its credit, the International Monetary Fund has started to focus on this issue after 15 years of preoccupation with development and transition

2)Regrettably, however, the fund�s approach has been to monitor every country�s economic policies, a strategy that risks addressing symptoms without confronting the larger systemic problem.












Would you explain the bold text.

[redset]

1) If you're preoccupied with something, it takes up your time and attention so you cannot focus properly on other things. This sentence is saying that the IMF was focused on development and transition, and is only now starting to devote attention to this other issue (whatever it is).

2) If you have a problem of some kind, the symptoms are signs of that problem that you may notice. In medicine for example, if you have flu you may display symptoms such as fever, headaches, a runny nose, congestion etc. These symptoms are the result of the main illness, the flu. You can treat the symptoms individually (such as taking a tablet for a headache), but that won't cure the illness that's causing them.

In this sentence, the author is saying that the IMF's approach (monitoring every country's economic policies) is a strategy that has a risk - the risk that they will be focusing on the symptoms rather than the underlying problem. A country's economic policies may not be the problem, they may be influenced by a larger problem that needs to be dealt with. If the IMF merely addresses the symptoms, they risk leaving the real problem unchanged.