The View | IMF's Greece bailout highlights fund's failure to learn from past lessons
The IMF's involvement in Greece and its continued support for decisions driven by euro zone governments caused a deep split in the institution
As French finance minister in 2010, Christine Lagarde opposed the involvement of the International Monetary Fund in Greece.
Lagarde's tenure at the head of the IMF since 2011 will be shaped by Greece, which holds a referendum on Sunday that could pave the way for its exit from the euro.
By its own admission the Washington-based institution broke many of its rules in lending to Greece. It ended up endorsing austerity measures proposed by the European Commission and European Central Bank, its partners in the troika of Greece's lenders, instead of leading talks as it had done with other countries such as Russia.
"I think the IMF has missed the opportunity [on Greece], because it has not fully leveraged the lessons it learned from the previous crises it was involved in, due to this asymmetric relationship within the troika," said Domenico Lombardi, a former IMF board member.
That the IMF lent to Greece at the behest of Europe, which has nominated every IMF managing director since the inception of the Fund in 1946, may expose the institution to greater scrutiny.