Employee morale seems to be running low at the International Monetary Fund what with more employees opting for a voluntary retirement plan than was earlier predicted.

Officials at the Washington DC-based international organization said yesterday that around 600 employees have requested buyouts under a plan aimed at cutting 380 jobs. The estimates range from a minimum of 585 to a maximum of 620, with the higher figure representing more than 25 per cent of the body's 2400 full-time staff.

The current job buyout plan is part of a bigger strategy to attract new staff to expand its oversight of global financial and capital markets, while also downsizing and cutting costs.

IMF spokesman Masood Ahmed confirmed that the number of employees that have requested buyouts was "somewhat in excess" of the 380 jobs that needed to be pruned, and said that the final results of the offer would be announced late Tuesday. He also tried to put a positive spin to the scenario by saying that the better-than-expected response indicates that there would be no forced lay-offs.

Domenico Lombardi, president of the Oxford Institute for Economic Policy and a former IMF board member, said IMF staff morale has run low for several years, as the fund has undergone internal changes amid a shifting global economic environment. He cited the declining importance of the fund in international affairs as one of the major reasons.

"Certainly, the most relevant factor is that the IMF is seen as less central, less important, and therefore people have less incentive to stay," he added.

Also, the fall in the American dollar vis-à-vis other major currencies can also be considered a major contributing factor towards people resigning, as it made salaries in that currency uncompetitive, especially for the employees based in Europe. Lombardi also attributed IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn's lack of innovative leadership in failing to attract talent to the organization.

"Certainly the IMF should find new ways to become more attractive also as an employer, not only as lender, not only as a provider of policy advice," Lombardi said.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international organization that oversees the global financial system by following the macroeconomic policies of its member countries; in particular those with an impact on exchange rates and the balance of payments. It also offers financial and technical assistance to its members, making it an international lender of last resort.

It describes itself as ''an organization of 185 countries working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty''. With the exception of North Korea, Cuba, Andorra, Monaco, Liechtenstein, Tuvalu, and Nauru, all United Nations member states participate directly in the IMF.