BWP launches new briefing on IMF surveillance
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Article summary
New BWP briefing analyses the impact of IMF surveillance on gender and social inequality.
The Bretton Woods Project is publishing a new briefing on IMF surveillance, ahead of discussions on the IMF’s Comprehensive Surveillance Review (CSR) at the 2025 Annual Meetings in Washington DC (see Observer Summer 2025). The briefing, entitled Brace for impact: Social and gender inequality in IMF surveillance, uses data from the recently released IMF surveillance scanner, and Article IV reports since the publication of the IMF’s Interim Guidance Note on Mainstreaming Gender in January 2024, to analyse the Fund’s evolving approach to gender.
Findings indicate that the IMF’s core policy direction has remained consistent over a 14-year period and is identical to that previously described as “structural adjustment”, consisting of austerity measures, a shrinking of the state and empowerment of the private and external sector. The data reveals that, while there has been an increase in narratives around social and gender impacts, current policy responses are inadequate and where responses are present, they are hampered by policy incoherence.
