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IMF conditionalities in Nicaragua

In an interview for Intermón Oxfam (Spain), the economist Adolfo Acevedo Vogl explains the different forms in which the International Monetary Fund (IMF) interferes in the economic, social and political life of Nicaragua. The consequences of this practice are reflected in the quality of life of the population. (Coordinadora Civil, 17 July 2006)

http://ifis.choike.org/informes/385.html

(Added: Fri Dec 15 2006   Hits: 97)

Life Expectancy and Income Convergence in the World:A Dynamic General Equilibrium Analysis

This IMF working paper "introduces the concept of the dynastic general equilibrium value of life to measure welfare gains from the increase in life expectancy. A calibration study finds sizable welfare gains, but these gains hardly mitigate the large inequality among countries. A conventional GDP-based measure remains a good approximation for (non) convergence in world living standards, even when adjusted for changes in life expectancy."

http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2008/wp08158.pdf

(Added: Mon Jun 30 2008   Hits: 8)

Kicking the Habit: How the World Bank and the IMF are still addicted to attaching economic policy conditions to aid

Despite numerous commitments to reform, The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are still using their aid to make developing countries implement inappropriate economic policies, with the tacit approval of rich-country governments. These economic policy conditions undermine national policy-making, delay aid flows, and often fail to deliver for poor people. If the world is to make poverty history, this practice must be stopped. Aid must be conditional on being spent transparently and on reducing poverty, and nothing more. (Oxfam, November 2006)

http://www.oxfam.org/en/policy/briefingpapers/bp96_kicking_the_habit_061127

(Added: Fri Dec 15 2006   Hits: 221)

My week with the rubbish-children of Peru

Two million children - starting at three or four - are forced to work in Peru, some never leaving the rubbish dump, or the stone quarry, where they make their maegre living. This author spends some time with them, as well as a determined band of Peruvian heroes, supported by Sport Relief, a British charity, who work to get children out of work - something made difficult by the dicates of the IMF. (Johann Hari, the Independent, 14 July 2006)

http://www.johannhari.com/archive/article.php?id=924

(Added: Fri Jul 21 2006   Hits: 95)

Still the Rich World's Viceroy

According to this commentary, the International Monetary Fund's reforms seem designed not to catalyse further change, but to prevent it. By slightly increasing the shares (and therefore the voting powers) of China, South Korea, Mexico and Turkey, the regime hopes to buy off the most powerful developing countries to keep the rest at bay. No one - except the leaders of the rich nations and the leader writers of just about every newspaper in the rich world - could regard this as an adequate response to its problems. (George Monbiot, Guardian, 5 September 2006)

http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2006/09/05/still-the-rich-worlds-viceroy/

(Added: Thu Sep 07 2006   Hits: 65)

The IMF: Shrink it or Sink it: A Consensus Declaration and Strategy Paper

The following document was collectively drafted over a period of two months by representatives of organizations that attended the "Strategy Session on the International Monetary Fund" at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC, on the occasion of the IMF-World Bank Spring meeting during the third week of April 2006. The International Monetary Fund is perhaps at its most vulnerable state in years. It is suffering a triple crisis--a crisis of legitimacy, a budget crisis, and a role crisis--that is unparalleled in its 62 years of existence. The paper outlines the events, beginning with the East Asia financial crisis, that led to this point. The paper argues that the circumstances provide critics of the Fund with an opportunity to radically shrink, disempower, if not decommission it altogether. This paper is being circulated globally for endorsement in advance of the critical Fall meeting of the Bretton Woods institutions that will be held in Singapore on 13-20 September 2006.

http://www.focusweb.org/content/view/985/27/

(Added: Mon Aug 21 2006   Hits: 77)

The Soy Case

Soy production has been booming the past 25 years. Most of this protein and oil containing bean goes as animal feed to the meat industry in Europe and China. Protein from fish meal has become scarce, other animal sources have been forbidden because of BSE, but the demand for meat is rising rapidly world-wide. As a result of the focus on monoculture export crops, such as soy, millions of people in one of the world's biggest food exporting regions are now suffering from malnutrition. GM-soy is contaminating the countryside and the risen use of pesticides is polluting water and soil. This resource discusses the soy case in Latin America. (A SEED, 2006)

http://aseed.tuxic.nl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=108

(Added: Wed May 24 2006   Hits: 329)

60 years of serving the poor?

World Vision New Zealand, 14 May 2004, by Simon Duffy. In the diamond anniversary year of the World Bank and the IMF, World Vision's Simon Duffy reflects on the history of two institutions that New Zealand taxpayers help to fund.

http://staging.worldvision.org.nz/news/archive/20040513_21.asp

(Added: Mon Jun 28 2004   Modified: Fri Aug 25 2006   Hits: 327)

Africa fails in IMF vote demand

BBC, Monday, 4 October, 2004. Developing countries have failed in their bid to win more voting power for Africa at the IMF and World Bank. African leaders visiting Washington for the two organisation's meetings argued they have too little say in the running of the institutions. Europe has 10 seats on the IMF and World Bank boards - but Africa, which receives almost half of all loans from the two bodies, has only two.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3712718.stm

(Added: Tue Oct 05 2004   Modified: Wed Jun 15 2005   Hits: 100)

Africa Falls Off the IMF Agenda (Again)

The juggling of board votes has demonstrated that at the IMF, those nations who are the least likely to be subjected to the institution's policies wield the most power over the direction those policies take. Countries that must take the IMF's medicine get the fewest votes. They should expect to lose even those. While the four beneficiaries of the latest reform may see a symbolic, or psychological, boost from the maneuver, the real power at the IMF will not shift. The shunting aside of Africa in this latest reform demonstrates how far from fair the current IMF is. (FPIF, Sameer Dossani and Soren Ambrose, 27 September 2006)

http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3548

(Added: Thu Sep 28 2006   Hits: 42)

Annual and Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group

The Boards of Governors of the World Bank Group (Bank) and the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund (Fund) normally meet once a year to discuss the work of their respective institutions. Each Spring, the IMF's International Monetary and Financial Committee and the joint World Bank-IMF Development Committee hold meetings to discuss progress on the work of the Fund and Bank. This page links to past and upcoming meetings.

http://www.imf.org/external/am/index.htm

(Added: Wed Sep 24 2003   Modified: Tue Jun 27 2006   Hits: 218)

Argentina and the Fund: From Triumph to Tragedy

From the Institute for International Economics, Policy Analyses In International Economics (67). In this policy analysis, former IMF Chief Economist Michael Mussa addresses the obvious question: What went wrong in Argentina and what important errors did the IMF make in either supporting inappropriate policies or in failing to press for alternatives that might have avoided catastrophe?

http://bookstore.iie.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=343

(Added: Thu Oct 10 2002   Modified: Tue Sep 26 2006   Hits: 310)

Arming NGOs with knowledge: a guide to the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

This handbook explains the nature, structure and activities of the IMF in order to de-mystify the institution and explain how it affects people's lives. It also presents the criticisms that various citizens' groups have had of IMF operations, and specific strategies for targeting the Fund and other related institutions. Despite the Fund's growing power, the time is ripe to push for comprehensive changes at the IMF. The global financial crisis has sparked an unprecedented debate among policymakers and within the media on the role of the IMF as no other recent event has. The growing international citizens' movement calling for comprehensive debt relief for the world's poorest countries is proof that people can and are getting educated and mobilized on issues of economic injustice. (Friends of the Earth, 2006)

http://www.foe.org/res/pubs/pdf/handbook.pdf

(Added: Fri Nov 10 2006   Hits: 245)

As I Say Not As I Do:A Critique of G-7 Proposals on Reforming the MDBs (PDF)

By Devesh Kapur, Department of Government, Harvard University, April 2002. "This paper focuses on the World Bank and, where necessary, on other MDBs and the IMF. The paper addresses three key issues raised by the G-7: 1. The restructuring of IDA with a part of its lending in the form of grants rather than loans. 2. The volume of support by MDBs for Global Public Goods (GPGs) and the rankings and priorities among them. 3. Harmonization of procedures, policies and overlapping mandates among MDBs."

http://ksghome.harvard.edu/%7E.drodrik.academic.ksg/G24Kapur.pdf

(Added: Mon Sep 01 2003   Modified: Tue Aug 22 2006   Hits: 399)

Asian Financial Crisis - 10 years on

In July 1997, massive capital flight from Thailand precipitated what is now known as the Asian financial crisis. Focus on the Global South was in the thick of the crisis, looking at the impacts first hand from our base in Thailand and analysing the political and economic fallout from every level and angle. Ten years on, unfinished condominiums and abandoned expressways sprouting rusty foliage from pillars of reinforced concrete scar Bangkok's skyline, constant reminders of the crash. But these days, alongside the ruins of 1997, taller, bigger and ritzier apartment buildings are springing thanks to a new property boom which, like the earlier one, will most probably end in a crash. On the face of it, Thailand does not appear to have learned much in the past ten years. Or has it? In this issue of Focus on Trade, Chanida Chanyapate and Alec Bamford look at attempts to inject Buddhist principles into economic thinking, replacing the "smirk of capitalism" with the "serene smile of sufficiency economy". Also in this issue, Walden Bello looks at how the key players in the crisis -- the financial markets, the national governments and the international financial institutions -- have fared in the past ten years while CP Chandrasekhar analyses new trends in the global financial system. His conclusions are grim and worrying. (Focus on the Global South, 27 July 2007).

http://www.focusweb.org/asian-financial-crisis-10-years-on-2.html?Itemid=1

(Added: Mon Jul 30 2007   Hits: 183)

Assessing the impact of PGRF on social services in selected African countries

To achieve significant poverty reduction in poor and indebted countries, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) introduced a new policy framework called the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PGRF) in 1999. The PRGF was supposed to usher in a new era of reduced international financial institution (IFI) conditionalities, but in reality this has not been the case. Some of the conditions attached to PRGF financing such as user fees for education and health services as well as privatisation of water and energy services have proved to be detrimental to social service delivery. After varying years of implementation across the countries under study (Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia) there has been little trickle-down of the macroeconomic stability and growth accruing from it to poverty reduction. The PRGF seems to be haunted by the same problems that haunted the old structural adjustment programs. (Afrodad, March 2006)

http://www.liberationafrique.org/IMG/pdf/PRGF_Synthesis.pdf

(Added: Mon Feb 05 2007   Hits: 67)

Blair calls for merger of IMF, World Bank

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has repeated his call for reform of world bodies such as the United Nations and the World Bank and urged more international support for Iraq in an article published in a French newspaper. (Reuters, Business Day, 29 May 2006)

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/topstories.aspx?ID=BD4A207357

(Added: Wed May 31 2006   Hits: 306)

Bolivia and the IMF

Contains IMF press releases and loan data relating to Bolivia

http://www.imf.org/external/country/bol

(Added: Fri Oct 17 2003   Modified: Tue Aug 15 2006   Hits: 124)

Bretton Woods Annual Meeting Reports

Reports from the World Bank-IMF Annual Meetings in Washington.(Bretton Woods Project, October 2007)

http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/am2007

(Added: Tue Oct 30 2007   Hits: 83)

Bridging the democratic deficit: Double majority decision making and the IMF

In order to improve its legitimacy and effectiveness, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) needs to consider new reform proposals. The current voting system based on unequal weights puts weaker members at considerable disadvantage in decision making. As a result, the IMF faces further loss of confidence and disengagement by member countries. This report includes suggestions for reforms, which must empower those sidelined by the existing system and build in important checks to abuse of power. (Peter Chowla, Jeffrey Oatham and Claire Wren, Bretton Woods Project, 2 February 2007)

http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/article.shtml?cmd[126]=i-126-2d06f7f9dad50fdc20ce051ffa132047

(Added: Mon Feb 05 2007   Hits: 40)

Building Scrutiny of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund: A toolkit for legislators and those who work with them

This toolkit provides some ideas and examples concerning how legislators can take action to improve their oversight of policy-making in an environment where the International Financial Institutions have significant influence. This document is aimed at both legislators and those who work with them, in developing countries and donor countries. (World Development Movement, February 2007)

http://www.wdm.org.uk/resources/reports/debt/toolkitforlegislators19012007.pdf

(Added: Fri Feb 09 2007   Hits: 161)

Business as usual: The World Bank, the IMF and the liberalisation agenda [pdf] 627 KB

Christian Aid's new report warns against a complacent acceptance of the G8's statement in July 2005 that developing countries should have the right to set their own economic policies. It shows that despite previous commitments from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank to give poor countries more freedom to choose their own trade policies, little of substance has changed.

http://www.christianaid.org.uk/indepth/509condition/

(Added: Mon Sep 26 2005   Modified: Tue Aug 15 2006   Hits: 198)

Challenging conditions: A new strategy for reform at the World Bank and IMF (pdf)

Nations must collectively respond to poverty, but the World Bank and IMF are failing to contribute to this goal because of deeply embedded conflicts of interest, their dominance by the world's richest countries and overlapping roles. One symptom of all this is their continued use of controversial economic policy conditions, such as liberalisation and privatisation, despite their claims to be supporting countries to make their own policy choices. Such conditions force governments to implement policies, even if they are unpopular with their citizens, have failed to achieve the significant gains in economic growth promised and have been shown to impoverish already poor communities. This 35-page report argues that the UK government should halt funding to the WB and IMF until comprehensive reform is acheived. (Christian Aid, July 2006)

http://www.christian-aid.org.uk/indepth/607ifis/challengingconditions.pdf

(Added: Thu Jul 20 2006   Hits: 191)

Change and No Change at IMF

In contrast to the circus atmosphere that surrounded the World Bank presidency, a surprise handover of the reins at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should prove to be a quiet affair. It will be conducted mostly out of the media spotlight and by the prevailing tradition, meaning that another European male will govern an institution that because of its checkered past is facing serious questions about its future. If the United States and Europe continue to throw away chances for reform, the IMF will become even more marginalized. (Peter Chowla, FPIF, 11 July 2007).

http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/4372

(Added: Fri Jul 20 2007   Hits: 33)

Confronting the Contradictions [pdf]

How the economic policies of the International Monetary Fund are forcing poor countries to either freeze, or seriously curtail, spending on teachers (ActionAid, April 2007).

http://www.actionaid.org/assets/pdf/AAConf_Contradictions_Final2.pdf

(Added: Wed May 07 2008   Hits: 28)

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