The International Monetary Fund (IMF) should scrap its long-term lending programmes to poor countries because it lacks competence on issues such as reducing poverty, according to a new report, The Future Role of the IMF in Development: An ODC Task Force Report, by the Overseas Development Council (ODC).
International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Environment
News
Bank Environment Strategy Draft Out
The World Bank has released a draft new environment strategy for public consultation.
Finance
News
Drowning By Numbers - Executive Summary
While the cost of using bilateral contributions to finance multilateral debt reduction is relatively high, this would not be the case if genuinely additional resources could be generated
WB/IMF roles
News
Asian Monetary Fund Shelved
In March, finance ministers from the South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) postponed plans to create an Asian Monetary Fund after pressure from the IMF and the US government.
IFI governance
News
IMF Agrees More Transparency
Executive directors have agreed to set up an independent evaluation unit for the IMF.
IFI governance
News
IMF succession process “secretive and undemocratic”
More than 120 NGOs and academics in 38 countries demanded an end to the secretive and undemocratic process for appointing the IMF Managing Director.
WB/IMF roles
News
Brazil IMF rep blunder over poverty programme
In February, government and opposition parties called for the Brazilian IMF representative, Lorenzo Perez, to leave the country and accused the IMF of meddling in its domestic affairs.
IFI governance
News
Treasury Committee supports UK transparency
The UK should be more transparent about the decisions it takes at the IMF recommends the UK’s Treasury Committee in its February 2000 report on the IMF.
Rights
News
Jakarta activists call for local initiatives
NGO activists in Jakarta wrote an open letter to World Bank President James Wolfensohn in February, asking him to meet directly with the people to hear their own solutions to reverse Indonesia’s economic decline based on small-scale, local initiatives.
IFI governance
News
Ahmed makes a surprise move to IMF
In a surprise move, which has raised further questions about overlap between the Bank and the IMF, Masood Ahmed, World Bank Vice President responsible for poverty reduction has been appointed Deputy Director of the IMF’s policy department.
Finance
News
IMF changes its tune on capital controls
A new report from the IMF, Country Experiences with the Use and Liberalization of Capital Controls, reviews experience with the use of capital controls in 14 countries and provides detailed studies of the experience of the use of controls in Chile, India and Malaysia.
Conditionality
News
African heads warn against new conditionality
African heads of state met in Libreville, Gabon in January to discuss the economic agenda for Africa in the new millennium.
Featured briefings
6 April 2022
The Bretton Woods Observer: Spring 2022
8 December 2021
The Bretton Woods Observer: Winter 2021
8 November 2021
IMF surveillance and climate change transition risks
New briefing by ActionAid USA and the Bretton Woods Project highlights research showing that IMF policy advice has undermined a just energy transition since the Paris Agreement was signed.