Constraints placed on the Central Bank of Kenya's monetary policy by the IMF have been condemned as damaging to Kenya's growth.
Conditionality impacts
Rights
News
IFIs admit failure to put jobs at the centre
While the International Labour Organization (ILO) warns of social unrest coming from record unemployment, the IMF and World Bank are being criticised for hindering workers rights and not putting jobs at the centre of recovery.
Social services
News
IMF's focus on austerity proved "wrong, wrong, wrong", say critics
While Christine Lagarde and staff at the Fund begin to acknowledge that too much austerity is risking jobs and growth and civil society groups call for an end to IFIs policy conditions, IMF programmes continue to promote fiscal retrenchment.
Accountability
News
IMF plays "second fiddle" as governments fall in the eurozone
As the eurozone debt crisis escalates and protests multiply, the IMF increasingly appears side-lined. Italy's calling in of the Fund for "verification" of implementation of its EU-agreed austerity package symbolises the limits of its influence and resources.
Accountability
Background
UK civil society meeting with HM Treasury and UK IMF Executive Director
Notes meeting Alex Gibbs September 2011
Conditionality
News
Ecuador shuns the IMF, borrows from China
Ecuador is shunning IMF credit facilities in favour of a long-term loan arrangement with China in exchange for oil.
IFI governance
News
World Bank lending falls by 20 per cent
The Bank announced in June that its commitments for the fiscal year ending 30 June, had fallen to $57.4 billion, from an all time peak of $72 billion last year.
Accountability
News
Programmed for Results?
In August, the Bank released a policy paper and draft operational policy for its controversial new Program For Results (P4R) lending instrument, aiming to rush through its approval by the end of the year, despite significant concerns.
Conditionality
News
Evaluations suggest IMF, World Bank research ideologically driven
A report by the IMF’s arms-length evaluation body, the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO), suggests that Fund research does not allow room for alternative perspectives, while academics attack the World Bank for pursuing ideologically driven research agendas.
Rights
News
Ukraine protests against IMF policies
In early July, thousands of protesters took to the streets in the Ukrainian capital Kiev to try to block pension reforms promised as part of the country's IMF loan.
Featured briefings
1 October 2024
Year one of World Bank Paris Agreement alignment in the energy sector: ‘green conditionality’ dwarfs green investments
New BWP research finds the Word Bank's approach to Paris alignment is being used to a significant extent to impose ‘green conditionalities' on borrowing countries, especially in the Global South.
3 July 2024
The Bretton Woods Observer: Summer 2024
3 July 2024
Is the World Bank rolling back commitments to citizen engagement, again?
Understanding the Bank’s chequered history with public, community and civil society participation is key for understanding what is at stake and what to do next.