Centennial Group Associates

Biography: Claudio Loser, Senior Associate

Mr. Loser, a national of Argentina, is a Senior Fellow at the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based forum for opinion leaders and policymakers on Western Hemisphere affairs, since early 2003. The Dialogue's 100 members--from the United States, Canada, and 22 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean--include seven former presidents and several ex-cabinet ministers, sitting governors, congressional leaders, corporate CEOs, and distinguished academics and journalists.

Mr. Loser has an extensive background in economic issues in Latin America. He graduated from the University of Cuyo in Argentina and received his Masters of Arts and PhD from the University of Chicago in 1967 and 1971, respectively. Mr. Loser has taught international economics and finance at the University of Cuyo and at American University in Washington, D.C. He was also a consultant for the Andean Group in Lima, Peru.

Until November 2002 Mr. Loser was Director of the Western Hemisphere Department in the International Monetary Fund. The Western Hemisphere Department, one of the largest in the Fund, includes 34 member countries from North, Central and South America, and from the Caribbean.

Mr. Loser was named Director of the Western Hemisphere Department in 1994. During his tenure, a number of important financial support programs were negotiated and implemented in the region. Under his leadership, the department also was actively involved in a wide range of surveillance, technical assistance, and research activities.

Mr. Loser joined the International Monetary Fund in 1972. He held various senior positions in the Western Hemisphere Department, including during the debt crisis of the 1980s. Mr. Loser initially worked in the Exchange and Trade Restrictions Department, now Policy Development and Review Department, where he dealt with external debt and program conditionality issues, participating in missions to countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America.

Mr. Loser has participated in a large number of international conferences and has published in numerous journals, mostly on Latin American economic issues. Recently he has worked closely with the G-24, the Andean Finance Corporation (CAF), the Rio Group of Latin American Cooperation, and with a number of financial corporations, also dealing with developments in Latin America and the evolving relations between these countries and the IMF.